As Modi tore into Congress in Bihar, party had some counter-protests of its own

The banners were placed at four spots in Gaya — Gol Bigha, Gandhi Maidan, Sikariya Mod, and Gate Number 5 on Bodh Gaya Road — as the party sought to directly take on the Prime Minister during his Bihar visit.

The Congress put up banners at key locations in Gaya that read, “Modi Aaya, Vote Gaya Ji” — a jibe referencing the omission of over 65 lakh names from the draft electoral rolls published by the Election Commission amid the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar.

Assembly elections are set to take place in Bihar later this year.

The Congress’s protest comes amid the party’s ongoing 1,300-km “Voter Adhikar Yatra”, a 16-day campaign led by the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, to highlight alleged irregularities in the SIR. Launched from Sasaram, the yatra will cover 23 districts, 50 Assembly segments, and six Lok Sabha constituencies that the Mahagathbandhan — the alliance comprising the Congress, RJD, and Left parties — won in the 2024 general election.

Rahul Gandhi has accused the ruling NDA of orchestrating a systematic “vote chori (vote theft)” through the SIR process, particularly in minority and backward-dominated regions like Seemanchal, Magadh, and Mithila.

The Supreme Court, hearing petitions on the matter, had recently directed the EC to make the list of deleted names publicly accessible, along with reasons for deletion. These details were subsequently published by the commission.

The Congress’s protest comes amid the party’s ongoing 1,300-km “Voter Adhikar Yatra”, a 16-day campaign led by the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, to highlight alleged irregularities in the SIR.

Meanwhile, in his public address in Gaya, Modi accused the Congress and the RJD of supporting “infiltrators” for political gain and said that his NDA government would not allow “infiltrators” to decide Bihar’s future.

“The increasing number of intruders in the country is a matter of concern,” Modi said, adding that the demographic profile in Bihar’s border areas was rapidly changing. He warned that the youth of Bihar must not be deprived of jobs or resources by illegal migrants, a message he framed as part of his government’s commitment to a “Demography Mission” aimed at identifying and removing infiltrators. Modi further accused the Congress and the RJD of standing with the infiltrators, while warning the people of Bihar to stay vigilant against them.

Former chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, the national president of the RJD, had said in a statement ahead of the PM’s visit, “Pradhanmantri Modi ji jaldi hi Gaya mein Nitish Kumar ki rajneeti aur unki party ke pinddaan karne aa rahe hain (Prime Minister Modi is coming to Gaya to perform the last rites of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s politics and his party).”

Meanwhile, two discontented RJD MLAs — Vibha Devi from Nawada and Prakash Veer from Rajauli — were spotted sitting in the back row on the podium set up at Magadh University in Gaya during the PM’s rally, sparking rumours that they may switch to the NDA before the upcoming Assembly elections.