Patna: ‘Modi ji is a factory of lies and his Bhartiya Janata Party is the dustbin of garbage from other parties,” Tejashwi Yadav said at his Jan Vishwas rally at Patna on Sunday, March 3.
A day ago, Prime Minister Narendra Modi – the target of Tejashwi’s no-holds-barred missile of words – had said in public meetings at Aurangabad and Begusarai that the Rashtriya Janata Party leader was “shy of talking about what his father [Lalu Prasad Yadav] had done.”
“Why is he not talking about his father’s work?” Modi had asked.
The BJP often labels Lalu’s tenure as chief minister, ‘jungle raaj’.
Tejashwi’s speech appeared to directly address Modi’s claim that he is silent on his father:
“Modi ji, please keep your ears open and glasses clean to hear and see me clearly. My father liberated millions of the poor and marginalised people from the bondage of slavery, he gave them voice and liberty. The Railways earned a profit of Rs 90,000 crores during his tenure as the Railway minister. He got wheels and wagon factories opened in Bihar. He regularised the services of coolies and introduced earthen cups for tea in the trains to give employment to potters. What have the Railways done under your rule in the last 10 years?”
Tejashwi has launched this frontal attack on the PM at a time when many opposition leaders are believed be haunted by the fear of central investigating agencies charging them in corruption cases.
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“My father has fought them (Sangh Parivar), braving all the tortures and tribulations. Rahul ji and Akhilesh ji have got notices from the Central Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement Directorate. I am among several of my family members facing the investigating agencies’ heat. But mark my words, I will fight…I won’t bow down,” Tejashwi said.
Also present in the rally were Lalu Prasad Yadav, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and Left parties’ leaders, Dipankar Bhattacharya, D. Raja and Sitaram Yechury.
He added, “Some people describe your BJP as a washing machine where the people go to get laundered. But the BJP is not really a washing machine, it is a dustbin to hold the garbage discarded by all other parties. Against this garbage party, is my RJD – an abbreviation of the words ‘rights, jobs and development’.”
The PM’s rallies were attended by the chief minister and Janata Dal (United) chief Nitish Kumar and his new deputy from the BJP, Samrat Choudhary, among others. They were, of course, impressive.
But Tejashwi’s ‘Mahagathbandhan ka Jan Vishwas rally’ – the grand alliance’s rally for public faith – saw enormous response. The Gandhi Maidan was a sea of humanity with people jostling with each other and spilling over into the streets in the city despite the intermittent drizzle and cold.
Jobs
Despite training his guns on the prime minister, Tejashwi appeared to keep the jobs question front and centre and tried to present himself as a ‘store house’ of employment. “It’s the same Gandhi Maidan in which I made a reluctant CM [a jab at Nitish Kumar who left the alliance recently] distribute over two lakh appointment letters. Do you remember it or not?” Tejashwi asked. People responded with rousing cries of ‘Tejashwi zindabad‘.
Employment has been in the centre of Tejashwi’s campaign ever since the 2020 elections. Behind his description of Modi as a “factory of lies” was the fact that he had reneged on his promise to give two crores of jobs annually apart from raising the minimum support price (MSP) for agricultural products up to 50% and doubling farmers’ income by 2022.
“Now Modi ji who failed on several of his guarantees in the past is talking about ‘Modi ki guarantee’. What guarantee he is talking about?” Tejashwi said.
“Will he [Modi] guarantee the stay of my uncle [Tejashwi calls Nitish ‘uncle’] with him?” he asked.
Although Tejashwi has tried to match the gift of rhetoric that his father had, it is too early to say if he will prove to have Lalu’s exact power to mesmerise the masses and take on political opponents in the parliament and on the streets.
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Soft on Nitish
In comparison to his barbs against Narendra Modi, Tejashwi was mild on Nitish. “My uncle deserted us. But I have no issue; I respected him; I will keep on respecting him. He is an old man. I have all regards for him,” he said.
At a point, though, he was unsparing. “Just remember who talked about jobs and employment first. It was I who promised to give 10 lakh jobs during my 2020 election campaigns. But, Nitish screamed at me saying, ‘Where will we get the money from? Will I bring it from my father’s house? This is impossible’.”
Tejashwi, who was driven to the opposition after Nitish switched sides to the BJP on January 28, claimed that this is what Nitish had said when reacting to his promise of 10 lakh jobs in 2020. But within a week of joining the Mahagathbandhan in August 2022, Nitish in his Independence Day address on August 15 at the same Gandhi Maidan announced that he would fulfil Tejashwi’s promise of about 10 lakh jobs. The alliance government handed out about 4.5 lakh jobs during 17 months of its tenure in office.
Tejashwi is clearly keen to make employment the central issue of his party’s campaign in the run up to the 2024 elections campaigns – in the same manner in which he did in 2020. In between the proceedings, the RJD spokesman and MP (Rajya Sabha), Manoj Jha raised the slogan, “Naukri matlab Tejaswhi Yadav (Tejashwi means jobs)” which the crowd responded to with excitement.
Nalin Verma is a senior journalist, author, media educator, and independent researcher in folklore.
