Tejashwi Yadav calls for Oppn unity, setting aside egos

RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Monday asked opposition parties to join hands in fighting the BJP, saying they have to decide if they are with the the ruling party or against it as he and his father Lalu Prasad launched a stinging attack on the Modi government. While Rashtriya Janata Dal president Prasad accused the BJP of “communalising” the society and “destroying” the Constitution, Yadav spoke about a ruling party MP’s speech allegedly calling for boycott of Muslims and asked what will happen if Indians working abroad, many in Muslim countries, are given a similar treatment.

In his speech at the party’s open convention, which ratified Prasad’s election as its president again, Yadav continued with his efforts to shed its image of an organisation confined largely to a Muslim-Yadav base as he asked the packed crowd of delegates at Talkatora Stadium to “bend” if needed to reach out to most backward castes and Dalits.

“You have to protect the last person in the queue. There is a need to change behaviour,” he said.

The RJD’s rivals have often linked the party’s rule to poor law and order situation and allege that its supporters try to dominate other castes when it is in power. “The RJD is a party of A to Z. It is a party of everyone,” Yadav said.

He accused the BJP of dividing the society on communal lines to divert people’s attention from real issues like unemployment, price rise, education and health.

In a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said while the BJP leader was the first one in 75 years to rise from a tea shop to the highest executive office in the country, in his eight years of rule those with engineering and other degrees were forced to work at tea shops.

The country is being destroyed and the constitution of the RSS is being imposed, he alleged.

Calling for unity among non-BJP parties, he said all opposition parties and leaders have to set aside their egos and personal interests to fight the ruling party.