India
pti-PTI
Members of the ruling BJP in Bihar on Thursday marked Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 76th birthday with blood donation camps, a public service pledge and the lighting of earthen lamps, while the opposition criticised the celebrations amid the devastating floods.
Bihar BJP leaders, including CM Samrat Choudhary and Ravi Shankar Prasad, celebrated PM Modi’s 76th birthday with blood donation and lamp-lighting events, facing opposition criticism from Tejashwi Yadav who highlighted devastating floods impacting 49.74 lakh people across 15 districts.
Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, who became the first BJP leader to head a government in Bihar earlier this year, visited the party office in the morning and joined workers participating in the ‘Seva Sankalp Abhiyan’.
Choudhary felicitated young blood donors at a party-organised camp and urged BJP workers to draw inspiration from Modi’s “selfless service” to the country. The chief minister later visited the Sheetla Mata temple in Agamkuan and offered prayers for the PM’s health and long life.
In the evening, Choudhary, along with Patna Sahib MP Ravi Shankar Prasad, state minister Ram Kripal Yadav and MLAs Sanjeev Chaurasia and Ratnesh Kushwaha, lit earthen lamps on the JP Ganga Path, also known as Marine Drive, as part of the ‘Ashirwad Ka Diya’ programme.
Choudhary later participated in another ‘Ashirwad Ka Diya’ programme at the Pataliputra Sports Complex. During his visit to JP Ganga Path, the chief minister also inspected a community kitchen at Bind Toli catering to flood-affected families. He reviewed food, relief and other arrangements and directed officials to take necessary measures and ensure smooth functioning of the facilities, according to a post on his social media account.
Around 49.74 lakh people in 15 districts of Bihar have been affected by floods, with several flowing above their danger marks. Union minister Giriraj Singh performed puja at the Mahakal Temple in Begusarai’s Khatoapur on Modi’s birthday and prayed for his long life. Singh said Modi had served the poor for the past 25 years, first as Gujarat chief minister and later as prime minister.
“Our only prayer is that he continues to serve the poor and keeps receiving the blessings of the people,” he said. Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav criticised the birthday celebrations, saying the money could instead have been used for flood relief, employment and measures to curb migration. Reacting to the lamp-lighting events, Yadav alleged that government officials were being made to “act like BJP workers”.
“At a time when Bihar is reeling under floods, people are suffering and dying, Rs 100 crore is being wasted on lighting lamps at government expense,” he alleged.
