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Tejashwi Yadav woos Muslims in Bihar, says will give adequate representation in government
Tejashwi Yadav has said if voted to power in Bihar, the RJD will give adequate representation to Muslims in government.
Assembly elections in Bihar are still more than a year away but the main Opposition party, the RJD has started to woo voters. RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, who is virtually running the party in the absence of his father Lalu Prasad serving jail term in fodder scam cases, has said that if the party is voted power, it would give “adequate representation to Muslims in the government.”
Yadav also took a dig at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who returned to the NDA fold in 2017 after having parted ways with the BJP in 2013 when it became clear that then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi would be the prime ministerial candidate in 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
Accompanied by JNU student union leaders Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid during his visit to Bihar’s Araria, Yadav said, “We have never made any compromise against communal forces,” adding that people especially Muslims should be wary of “tricks” of Nitish Kumar.
He was speaking at a function organised in the memory of late Md Tasliimuddin, stalwart Muslim leader of Seemanchal, at Araria, around 300 km from Patna.
Taslimuddin, a former union minister and Araria MP, died in 2017 necessitating Lok Sabha by-poll on March 11 last year. His son, Sarfaraz won the parliamentary seat as RJD candidate. Yadav said, “No power on earth can spoil the cordial relations between our two families (Yadav’s and Taslimuddin’s).”
Yadav also slammed BJP leader Giriraj Singh, who had said that Araria would turn into a terror hub if Sarafar Alam won the Araria by-poll. Yadav said that the BJP had back tried to spread hatred. “This country is not anybody’s property,” he said.
Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid also spoke on the occasion and highlighted the failures of the Nitish Kumar-led NDA government in Bihar. Kumar said the state is in the grip of criminals and anti-social elements. “AK47 rifles are sold like hot cakes here,” he said.
Congress leaders were conspicuous by their absence at the function. Rebel BJP leader Shatrughan Sinha, Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) chief Jitan Ram Manjhi and several others didn’t participate in the programme.
Barari RJD MLA Neeraj Yadav, who is also the RJD in-charge of Araria district, said, “The programme has virtually set the tone for elections and we are going to succeed.”
