Patna, Jun 21: RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday intensified his criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of spending an astronomical ₹20,000 crore on rallies in Bihar since 2014. Continuing his “pickpocket” jibe from the previous day, Yadav claimed that each of Modi’s rallies cost ₹100 crore, with “200 such public meetings” held in the state.
“So the total amount splurged during the period, which has also seen five elections (three Lok Sabha and two Vidhan Sabha), is ₹20,000 crore…many such meetings have been organised by the government even though the objective has been, clearly, electoral,” the former Bihar deputy CM claimed.
The young RJD leader had earlier compared Modi to a “pocketmaar” (pickpocket) over high ticket prices for the Vande Bharat Express. On Saturday, he reiterated the expression in a pointed social media post.
“What should we call a person who cleverly uses public money on his own publicity…and pretends to be a man of integrity?… Of course, pocketmaar, not madadgaar (a helper of the people).”
PM Modi, who visited Siwan on Friday — his fifth visit to Bihar this year and the second in less than a month — has reportedly addressed 51 rallies in the state since becoming prime minister.
In response, the BJP hit back with force. Posters emerged across Patna bearing the slogan:
“Mera baap chaara chor, mujhe vote do” (my father stole fodder meant for cattle, vote for me),
mocking the RJD leadership and referencing the fodder scam that led to the conviction of RJD supremo and Tejashwi’s father, Lalu Prasad Yadav. The posters featured a caricature of Lalu and Tejashwi riding a buffalo — a symbolic jab at the fodder scam scandal.
Although the BJP has not officially claimed responsibility for the posters, the move escalates the party’s counter-offensive. A day earlier, BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary invoked the iconic line from the film Deewaar:
“Mera baap chor hai” (my father is a thief),
aimed at Tejashwi Yadav and his father’s tainted legacy.
Lalu Prasad’s conviction in the fodder scam — during which he was Chief Minister and also served as a Union Minister — has rendered him disqualified from contesting elections.
With the Bihar assembly elections just a few months away, this fierce political exchange signals an increasingly heated and personal campaign battle between the BJP-led NDA and the opposition INDIA bloc.