Lalu to Tejashwi, Rahul to Akhilesh: Opposition targets PM Modi at Patna rally

“Ye Modi kya hai? Modi koi cheez hai? Narendra Modi parivarvaad par bolta hai aur kitne netaon ka kitna santaan hai ginta hai…hum kya karein agar tumhare paas parivar nahi hai (What is Modi? Modi speaks on dynastic politics and keeps counting how many leaders have their children in politics. What can we do if he does not have a family of his own?). He keeps bragging about the Ram temple. He is not even a true Hindu. In Hindu tradition, a son must get his head and beard shaved upon the demise of a parent. Modi did not do so when his mother died,” he said.

Tejashwi, who is the Leader of Opposition in Bihar, broke into a Bollywood number to taunt Nitish: “Idhar chala, kabhi udhar chala… phisal gaya (sometimes he goes here, sometimes there, and slips).” Lalu, too, targeted Nitish while crediting his son for the job scheme.

INDIA bloc leaders at the rally in Patna on Sunday. (PTI)

“Nitish should not have switched sides. Tejashwi and I made a mistake by taking him back (in Mahagathbandhan in August 2022). His body is not functioning well. It looks like he has some disease,” Lalu said.

Lalu, who was sharing the stage with Opposition figures after a long gap, said: “Bihar ke hawa mein dum hai. Bihar jo faisla leta hai, desh ka anukaran karta hai (There is something special about Bihar’s political atmosphere. Whatever Bihar decides, the country emulates).”

The RJD chief also continued targeting Modi: “Ram aur Rahim ko ladwata hai… Pran pratishtha karta hai… Itne dinon se bhagwan kya bina pran ke the? (He creates a rift between Hindus and Muslims. He got the consecration of Lord Ram done in Ayodhya. Was God without life all these years?)”

Meanwhile, SP chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav asked the BJP if it would promise to deny Lok Sabha tickets to dynasts. “UP and Bihar together have 120 seats. If we ensure the BJP’s defeat in these two states, the party will not be able to form the government at the Centre,” he said.

CPI leader D Raja, CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechuri and CPI (ML) leader Dipankar Bhattacharya were also present at the mammoth Jan Vishwas Rally rally held in Patna’s Gandhi Maidan. People had started pouring in since early morning and even though the heavens opened, most of them stayed till the rally concluded in the evening.

Rahul, meanwhile, reiterated his message from his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. “It is hate, violence, and arrogance versus love, brotherhood, and respect for one another. (Nafrat ke bazaar mein mohabbat ki dukan kholi hai (I have opened a shop of love in a market of hate),” he said.

He also asked Modi about the quantum of farm loans waived so far. “The country has not seen unemployment of this scale in the last 40 years. About 73 per cent OBC, Dalits, and tribals have marginal representation in top positions in private sector, media houses and other places. Among 90 top decision-making bureaucrats, there are only three Dalits,” he said.

Slamming the Agniveer scheme, Rahul said: “Imagine what kind of soldiers we will prepare with just six months of training and how we can put them up against the Chinese and Pakistani forces, who could be better trained.”

Tejashwi said this is the same Gandhi Maidan from where he had got Nitish to distribute mass appointment letters twice. “This is the same place where we are holding a rally now… Tell me when was the first time someone gave 10 lakh jobs? Wasn’t it me? It’s surprising that Nitish, who used to say giving 10 lakh jobs is impossible, is now advertising it. I achieved in 17 months what was not done in 17 years.”