US President Joe Biden will use his State of the Union address Thursday to attack election rival Donald Trump for plotting “revenge and retribution” while offering skeptical voters his own optimistic version of an American comeback.

In one of the most important speeches of his long political career, the 81-year-old Democrat will try to ease growing concerns among voters about his age by painting himself as the only alternative to to anti-democratic Trump in November’s election.

“My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy,” Biden was to say in the primetime speech starting at 9:00 pm (0200 GMT), according to excerpts released by the White House.

“Now some other people my age, see a different story,” he said in a clear dig at Trump, although without mentioning his name. “An American story of resentment, revenge, and retribution. That’s not me.”

The oldest president in US history, Biden narrowly trails in the polls behind Republican former president Trump, who at 77 is just four years younger than him.

Biden routinely paints Trump — who was impeached twice and faces multiple criminal indictments including for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss — as a threat to the survival of US democracy.

In his speech, Biden was also to slam Republican abortion opponents, saying they have “no clue about the power of women in America,” in what Democrats see as a key vote-winning issue.

With many Americans struggling from high prices, Biden was to say of the US economy that “in thousands of cities and towns the American people are writing the greatest comeback story never told.”

Biden was also set to use the annual speech on the floor of Congress to overcome doubts about US support for Israel’s war on Hamas, and for Washington’s backing for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.

Biden was to announce during the speech that he has ordered the US military to set up a port on Gaza’s coast to bring in more aid, reflecting the acute political pressure from many in his own party on the issue.

Biden’s age under scrutiny

However, the millions of Americans tuning in to the spectacle will be watching not just what Biden says in the joint session of Congress, but how he says it.

Will he stumble, for example? Or will he mix up the names of people and countries, deepening concerns fueled by a recent special counsel report that described him as elderly and forgetful?

The White House said Biden was fully prepared for the speech — and ready for any repeat of last year’s heckling by Trump allies, which he successfully parried with spirited ripostes.

Ahead of the speech, Trump said Biden was “on the run from his record” and accused him of “horrific devastation” during his three years so far in office.

Trump vowed a “rapid response” to Biden during the speech.

“It’s time to tell Crooked Joe Biden — you’re fired,” Trump said in a video “prebuttal”, making a well-worn reference to the catchphrase of his former TV reality show “The Apprentice.”

Trump, who is seeking a historic White House comeback, continually mocks Biden’s health and mental acuity, despite his own repeated verbal slips.

The White House meanwhile released a light-hearted video showing Biden talking to Hollywood stars who have previously played US presidents, including Geena Davis, Michael Douglas and Morgan Freeman.

In line with tradition, First Lady Jill Biden will host a number of guests chosen to highlight the White House’s priorities. 

This year they include a Texan woman forced to leave the state for an abortion, auto workers leader Shawn Fain, whose union recently backed Biden, and the prime minister of Sweden, which became NATO newest member on Thursday.

Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska and the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny were both invited but were unable to attend, the White House said.

The speech comes two days after Trump and Biden all-but set up a rematch of the 2020 election with their sweeping wins in this week’s “Super Tuesday” primaries — but it is a sequel that polls show many US voters do not actually want.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Farooq Abdullah, former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, took strong exception to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks yesterday on Article 370 of the constitution and that it had only helped propagate dynastic rule in the erstwhile state. “If Article 370 was this bad, how did Jammu and Kashmir ever make progress,” he questioned.

PM Modi, in his first visit to Srinagar yesterday since the scrapping of Article 370, had called it a “new Jammu and Kashmir” that was the result of the scrapping of the erstwhile state’s special status.

“For decades, for political gains, Congress and its allies misled people in the name of Article 370. But today there are equal rights and opportunities for all. The people know the truth… they were misled… This is the new Jammu and Kashmir for which we all were waiting,’ he had said.  

Shortly after, Farooq Abdullah — a three-time Chief Minister of the erstwhile state — hit back.

“If Article 370 was this bad — I would like the Prime Minister to re-hear the speech made in the Rajya Sabha by then Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad, in which he compared two states. He compared Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir in terms of progress when Article 370 was there,” Farooq Abdullah said.

“Now, if Article 370 and nepotism are responsible, then how did we make that progress? It is the people’s rule, I lost the election as a chief minister. So, where is the dynastic rule?” Mr Abdullah said. “This dynastic rule is a kind of common voice I heard also in parliament. In every speech that PM makes, he makes a particular target on it”.

The former Chief Minister also pointed out that the scrapping of Article 370 has made education expensive.

Education from the level of primary schools to universities was free, he said. “Today, education is only free up to the 14th class. In the universities, you have to pay now. An honest commission has to be put to see what was there before the revoke of Article 370 and what was is thereafter,” Mr Abdullah said.

The Congress election committee, in its very first meeting late last evening, has finalised most candidates for six of ten states it was considering. “A formal announcement will be made soon,” said senior party leader KC Venugopal when the meeting finished close to midnight.

“We finalised seats from Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and Lakshadweep… The procedure is going on, formal announcement will be made very soon,” Mr Venugopal told reporters.

Sources said Rahul Gandhi will contest again from his seat Wayanad in Kerala, former Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel from Chhattisgarh’s Rajnandgaon and Jyotsna Mahant from Korba. All the key leaders from Chhattisgarh will be in the fray.

The party will also contest 16 of the 20 seats from Kerala and former Union Minister Shashi Tharoor will be among the candidates, sources said.

In Karnataka, the Congress will not field state ministers, sources said, amid reports that most ministers are unwilling to contest the national elections. Two ministers have gone public with their reservations. Only one minister could be in the running if he decides to contest, sources said.

Among the candidates from the state is state party chief DK Shivakumar’s brother, party MP DK Suresh. No decision has been taken on Kalburgi, the seat of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge.

The committee will meet again on Monday.

The list that was to be discussed today included Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, Sikkim and Lakshadweep. The party has left the northeast for the next round.

With the general elections due in summer, the finalisation of candidates has started even though the party is yet to resolve the seat-sharing issue in two crucial states – Maharashtra and Bengal — which together account for 90 seats.

Talks with Maha Vikas Aghadi allies for the 48 seats in Maharashtra is still in progress. In Bengal, the Congress is trying to placate Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, who has put her INDIA membership on hold, miffed with the way the seat sharing process was going.