The political stage of the battle for the ballot in Bihar brought forth Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s response to attacks by critics over silence on the Dadri incident today. Though the PM did not refer to the incident directly, he urged people to fight poverty and not each other and pay no heed to hate speeches.

The PM chose his last stop for the day while campaigning in Bihar at Nawada to silence his critics over the Dadri incident without naming Dadri, he urged people not pay heed to hate speeches and to follow the path of plurality suggested by President Pranab Mukherjee.

The President had on Wednesday, called on the nation to preserve core values of diversity, tolerance and plurality making no reference to Dadri.

The situation in Dadri is now normal with locals asserting that there has never been any discord amongst communities in the area.

The UP govt has submitted a report to the Centre and is investigating the matter, arresting 8 out of the ten accused so far.

The Centre on its part has issued an advisory to all states to ensure zero tolerance to acts that threaten the secular fabric of the nation and exploit religious sentiments.

All in all the Prime Minister’s three fold message at Nawada was loud and clear, ignore inflammatory statements, focus on growth and battling poverty instead and live up to President Mukherjee’s call to maintaining the plural fabric of India.