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Defense Minister Rajnath Singh has announced plans to open a defense corridor in Bihar and said the state will no longer be limited to producing homegrown weapons.
Union Defense Minister Rajnath Singh. (PICTURE: PTI)
Defense Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday stressed that the era of ‘Katta’ and ‘Laltana’ is over in Bihar and the state is ready to produce missiles and guns to play an important role in the security and defense of the country.
Addressing a rally in Ramgarh Assembly constituency, Singh said, “I want to tell RJD people that ab katta nahin, tope banegi… missile banengi (Bihar will produce guns and missiles instead of national weapons).”
The defense minister described the NDA’s manifesto as ‘Atal Pratigya’ (firm resolve) and said the era of manufactured weapons and lanterns (laltans) was over in Bihar. He also announced plans to open a defense corridor in Bihar.
“We will not make false promises that we will give government jobs to every family in Bihar. It is not financially possible. We have promised to create employment opportunities and for this we have announced MSME corridors and defense corridor in Bihar,” he said.
At another rally in Karakat, Singh accused the Congress of trying to divide the country in the name of caste and religion and is appealing for appeasement to win votes. He said that BJP never engaged in politics of religion but only politics of justice and humanity.
“Wherever Rahul Gandhi goes, he says that the Election Commission has stolen the votes of the people of Bihar. I want to ask him, is it necessary to lie to achieve political success? If one wants to do meaningful politics, one should do nation-building politics,” he said.
PM Modi attacks Oppn over ‘Katha Sarkar’
This came as Prime Minister Narendra Modi attacked the Mahagatbandhan alliance at a rally in Bihar’s Sitamarhi, saying the state did not want a gun-wielding government, citing the RJD.
“Nahi chahiye katta sarkaar, fir ek baar NDA sarkaar” (We don’t want a government with guns; we want an NDA government once again),” he said, again focusing on Bihar’s “jungle rule” under former prime minister Lalu Prasad Yadav.
“These people from RJD and Congress don’t even know the ABCD of industries,” PM Modi said while criticizing the opposition for its poor record of economic progress. “In 15 years of jungle rule, not a single big hospital or medical college was built in Bihar.”
The first phase of the Bihar Assembly elections was held on November 6 and concluded with a large and historic voter turnout of 64.66%. This figure not only surpassed the previous Assembly election record set in 2000 (62.57%), but also eclipsed the highest Lok Sabha voter turnout recorded in the state (64.6% in 1998).
Voting was held in 121 seats in 18 constituencies, and a total of 3.75 million voters were eligible to exercise their right to vote in the first phase of voting. The second stage of the parliamentary elections will be held on November 11, and the counting of votes will take place on November 14.
(with participating agencies)
Aveek Banerjee is a senior editor at News18. Based in Noida and holding a Masters in Global Studies, Aveek has over three years of experience in digital media and news curation, specializing in international…More details
Aveek Banerjee is a senior editor at News18. Based in Noida and holding a Masters in Global Studies, Aveek has over three years of experience in digital media and news curation, specializing in international… More details
Ramgarh, India, India
8 Nov 2025 9:00 PM IST
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