PM to lead BJP fast on blockade
Three days after Rahul Gandhi led a symbolic 5-hour Congress fast at Rajghat here for peace and harmony, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will go on a day-long fast here on Thursday, with the BJP MPs in own constituencies, against what they call Parliament's blockade by the Congress in the second part of the budget session that ended last Friday.
There is no clarity whether Modi's fast will be in public, along with Delhi MPs, or in his home or office as a BJP spokesman said he will not disturb his daily routine of meeting people and officials and clearing files even while not eating anything during the day.
The Prime Minister's office (PMO) added more confusion and a question mark on Modi observing fast in Delhi as it announced that he will be in Chennai on Thursday to inaugurate Defence Expo and also visit the Cancer Institute, Adyar in Chennai.
Since he decided to fast in the capital, he has sent Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda to his Varanasi constituency to go on the fast there on his behalf. On Wednesday, he addressed the party MPs through video-conferencing as they hold the "Samata Diwas" in their constituencies to mark the birth anniversary of 18th century anticaste social reformer Jyotirao or Jyotiba Phule of Maharashtra.
Alike him, BJP President Amit Shah will also be on his "duty" of a 2-day poll tour of Karnataka and instead of a fast he would join a "dharna" organised by the party at the Dharwad DC office for some time, says a press release by the party headquarters.
The party asserted that the Congress is rattled by the fast pace of development to indulge in a misleading campaign as if nothing has happened in the Modi Raj. It is all there with everybody's eyes to judge the development, it said.
It was Modi who had given a call for the nationwide fast by the BJP MPs on April 12 just an hour before the budget session of Parliament was wound up while Rahul followed suit by declaring a parallel fast three days in advance. While the BJP blames the Congress for spearheading daily ruckus to paralyse Parliament, the Congress puts blame on it for instigating its allies TDP and AIADMK to deliberately rock the two Houses to prevent the no-confidence motion and a host of issues on which the Opposition wanted to corner the government.
The BJP said the fast led by Modi is "to expose the Congress for its undemocratic style of functioning and pursuing divisive politics and anti-development agenda."
In a tit-for-tat on the BJP calling Monday's Congress fast across the country as a "farce," it was the turn of the Congress to accuse the BJP of the farcical fast after engineering Parliament paralysis to prevent criticism of the government.
Rahul taunted at Modi that he would not stop with this fast but soon fast also over the latest custodial death of a father seeking justice for his daughter raped by a BJP MLA. "The barbarism unleashed against a father seeking justice for his (rape survivor) daughter in Uttar Pradesh has shamed the humanity. "We hope that the Prime Minister will also observe a fast very soon over atrocities against women, increasing lawlessness and anarchy under the BJP rule," Rahul said on Twitter.
The BJP is not stopping with the fast, using the birth anniversary of Babasaheb Ambedkar on Saturday to take on the Congress and other opposition parties trying to capitalise on last week's Dalit protests at dilution of law for their protection.
Nor is the Congress stopping after Monday's fast as the party is organising a mega rally at the historic Ramlila Grounds here on April 29 to expose the lies spread by the BJP government on the achievements made in the last four years.