LALU’S OPPOSITION RALLY WITNESSES HEAVY TURNOUT
19 parties unite, criticise saffron party for its divisive politics and ‘unholy intention’ to break up alliances
An aerial view of RJD's rally 'BJP Bhagao, Desh Bachao' at Gandhi Maidan in Patna on Sunday. Several opposition parties, including TMC and SP, participated in the rally and gave a call for BJP’s ouster in the 2019 Lok Sabha election. Among the heavyweights present at the rally were West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad and JD(U) rebel leader Sharad Yadav.
PATNA: RJD chief Lalu Prasad on Sunday joined 18 national parties, among them the TMC, SP and the Left, to issue a joint call to all anti-BJP forces to close ranks to ‘save the country’ from the ‘communal and divisive’ BJP and its ‘unholy intention’ to gobble up India by breaking alliances and parties by underhand means, as it did in Bihar.
He added that the Centre had launched a witch hunt against anybody who opposed it by misusing investigate agencies, but he would not be cowed down.
Addressing an impressive ‘Desh Bachao, Bhajpa bhagao’ (Save nation, drive out BJP) rally at the Gandhi Maidan here, he said parties proving to be inconvenient to BJP at the Centre were facing witch hunts and their leaders threatened through misuse of central investigating agencies, adding, “this rally will redefine the direction national politics will take hereon” .
Lalu, a former CM, was joined by TMC chief and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, and five ex-chief ministers Akhilesh Yadav of Samajwadi Party, Babulal Marandi of Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM), Hemant Soren of JMM, besides D Raja of CPI and Sharad Yadav of JD-U. JD(S) and RLD also joined the show of strength. BSP chief Mayawati, Congress’ Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, CPI-M’s Sitaram Yechury were among the notable absentees, taking some sheen off the rally, though messages of the two Congress leaders were played live on screen and senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad filled the spot.
Sharad Yadav, who risked expulsion from mainline JD(U) by attending the meet, said, “The state of politics is such that even my shadow has rebelled against me. It’s a travesty that there is no commitment to truth left in politics today.”
He said the Mahagathbandhan was a mandate created by people, which has been insulted, yet he did not carry a grievance against those who brought it down. Lalu focused his speech mostly on Nitish Kumar’s clandestine deal with BJP and breaking ranks with grand alliance. PATNA: The son announced his arrival on the national stage on Sunday. Amidst senior leaders of various parties, RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s youngest boy, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, in his 25-minute speech at the Patna rally, took on Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, whom he addressed as ‘chacha (uncle)’, and punctured Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s poll slogan ‘Har Har Modi’ to ‘Gadbad Modi’, for not honouring his promises to Bihar.
Tejashwi played the emotional card deftly, stressing on “attempts after attempts” to “frame me, my father and mother, brother and sisters in cases” even as he targeted the ₹1,000-crore Srijan scam and drew parallels with Madhya Pradesh’s Vyapam scam.
He played to the youth, who made up over three-fourths of the crowd at the ‘BJP bhagao, desh bachao’ rally, blended emotion, religious appeal, aggression, and also sought responses from the crowd to announce his readiness to take over the mantle from his father. “We are not afraid,” he said, mentioning the I-T, ED and fodder scam cases, and added, “Our God Shri Krishna was born in jail and I have the blood of Lalu Prasad coursing through my veins.”
Tejashwi said, “He (Nitish) stabbed George Fernandes, Lalu Prasad and Sharad Yadav and Bihar in the back. He insulted the Bihar mandate and continues as CM with your votes. He has joined BJP which promised Bihar much, but delivered nothing.
“The war against them starts now,” he declared and demanded the resignations of Nitish and his current deputy, Sushil Kumar Modi of BJP, over the Srijan scam. Tejashwi warned people against the BJP’s divisive politics