Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a joint rally with Janata Dal (United) chief and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in Gaya on Tuesday.

The prime minister claimed that before 2014, there had been terrorist attacks in several parts of the country. However, after May 2014 (when the BJP-led government came to power), all terrorists organisations stopped their activities, he claimed. Modi claimed that the Opposition and the terrorists and their supporters had something in common – they are all worried about the chowkidar.

“There were no inadequacies in our police forces, our security agencies before 2014,” he said. “The problem was with political freedom. Our security forces captured terrorists by risking their lives, but the administration set them free only for votes.”

Modi claimed that the Congress coined the term “Hindu terror” to prevent investigation agencies from conducting a fair inquiry into the activities of terrorist groups. He alleged that Congress leaders and think tanks began to describe all Hindus as terrorists. “This kind of thinking led to the loss of lives of thousands of innocent Indian citizens,” Modi alleged.

The prime minister also accused the Congress of backing Maoists, adding that the Opposition party was instigating misguided youth. Narendra Modi claimed that no other party has ignored Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar as much as the Congress has. “Ambedkar received the Bharat Ratna [posthumously] because of the efforts of the Bharatiya Janata Party,” he said.

“Congress says I am the chowkidar of the toilet,” Modi said. “When we were thanked by the janitors after washing their feet, the Congress abused us. Is it not an insult to those who clean it? Is this insult granted to you?”

He also said people like Dashrath Manjhi will teach the Congress a lesson. Manjhi, known as the “mountain man”, worked for 22 years to carve roads out of a mountain in Gaya. Blaming the Congress for the lack of development in Bihar, he claimed that many more Manjhis would have been needed if the state had not voted the National Democratic Alliance to power.

“Terrorism, prices, violence, corruption, black money rise when Congress is in power,” Modi said.

Meanwhile, Nitish Kumar enumerated the achievements of the NDA in his speech, News18 reported. “We have ended the era of lanterns,” he said in an attack on the erstwhile Lalu Prasad Yadav-led government in the state. The party symbol of Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal is lantern. “Now there is electricity in every village in the state. Every house will have a toilet by October 2,” he added.

Kumar said that the Centre has provided all possible financial support for Bihar, adding that the government has given Rs 50,000 crore for building roads in the state. “These are the projects which were declared in 2015 under a special package for Bihar,” the chief minister said.

The Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19. The results will be declared on May 23.