Former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad on Thursday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), saying it is trying to create communal divide, and added that it would be wiped out in upcoming Lok Sabha election. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) supremo also alleged the BJP is a threat to the Constitution of India. Speaking of the leadership issue in 2024 Lok Sabha election, Mr. Prasad stressed that a leader would be selected at the opportune hour, while praising Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, as a flag-bearer of social justice.
Mr. Prasad made these statements during a function organised at Sadaquat Ashram, intended at celebrating the birth anniversary of Sri Krishna Singh, the first Chief Minister of Bihar. The RJD supremo visited the State Congress headquarters, also housed within the Ashram premises, after a gap of nearly eight years; most of the senior Congress leaders were present including Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee president Akhilesh Prasad Singh.
The former Chief Minister said that the winds that originate in Bihar will spread over the entire country and lead to a victory of the new alliance, referring to the Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).
“We will wipe out Narendra Modi, Amit Shah and the RSS [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh] in the coming Lok Sabha election. The present government at the Centre would be dethroned and that’s the reason they are uneasy. That explains the raids being conducted against the Opposition. The Government at the Centre does not have any work except conducting raids. However, they will not gain anything rather things going out of their hands,” Mr. Prasad said.
He further said that the country is passing through a phase of crisis, and the communal forces are standing before the nation creating hatred among the people who believe in Ram and Rahim. Slamming the government at Centre, he added that the Constitution is in danger and democracy is being attacked.
He described that looking at the present scenario the political parties which were separated are now getting united and formed the alliance bloc INDIA.
“We started the very first meeting of INDIA from Patna itself followed by Mumbai and Bangalore in which 23 political parties came at one platform. People have asked us who would lead INDIA. Let me say that we will select the leader easily at the right time and there would be no difficulty in the process. Soon we are going to organise a mega rally in Patna’s historic Gandhi Maidan under the motto of ‘BJP Hatao Desh Bachao’ [depose BJP, save country],“ Mr. Prasad said.
Talking about the upcoming assembly election in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Mizoram, Chhattisgarh and Telangana, Mr. Prasad expressed confidence that the BJP would lose all five states.
Without naming anyone, Mr. Prasad alleged that the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance formed the government at Centre after cheating the people of India. He accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of making false promises to bring back the money stashed in foreign accounts.
“They promised to give ₹15 lakh to every Indian from the hidden money in foreign banks but later they said that there is no money in foreign accounts. This is the biggest betrayal of the people. This time we all have to ensure that they are defeated in the coming polls,” Mr. Prasad said.
He did not miss the opportunity to attack the BJP over a recently released caste based survey report. The former Bihar CM claimed that one RSS worker (who remained unnamed) said that the BJP would lose all the seats in Bihar with the exception of the Patna Sahib seat.
“After the caste based survey report, BJP leaders are feeling uneasiness. Even Rahul Gandhi had said that caste census would be done in the country if Congress party returns to power. Rahul Gandhi is the leader who raised the flag of social justice. They [BJP] want more shares in the power despite having 1% population. Now the power of the country would be distributed according to the population and social justice,“ Mr. Prasad said.
Many senior Congress leaders were present on the dais which includes Rajya Sabha MP Pramod Tiwari, former MP Tariq Anwar, former governor Nikhil Kumar, Anil Sharma, Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Shakeel Ahmad Khan and others.
On a lighter note, Mr. Prasad said that it was him, who sent Akhilesh Prasad Singh to Rajya Sabha.
“I was in Ranchi jail when Akhilesh came to meet me. He wanted someone else to go to Rajya Sabha but I asked him to instead. I called Sonia Gandhiji and Ahmed Patel from the jail premises, and asked them to declare his name as Rajya Sabha nominee,” Mr. Prasad said.
Interestingly, during his entire speech, Mr. Prasad did not once refer to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who initiated the Opposition’s unity and conducted caste based survey in Bihar.
