Janata Parivar slams Modi govt: We can give you camels to bring black money back, says Lalu

The Janata Parivar on Monday protested against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi over various issues, including the promises made by NDA before the Lok Sabha polls and the controversy over religious conversions. Pitching for larger Opposition unity, six constituents of the erstwhile Janata Parivar shared dais at a “Mahadharna” slamming BJP’s “divisive” politics and accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “telling lies” and “not fulfilling” poll promises on black money. Leaders of the splinter groups including SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and JD(U)’s Nitish Kumar called for “sinking old prejudices” and promised to “script a new story” in the Indian politics by ousting BJP. Tariq Anwar and DP Tripathi from the NCP also shared the dais while Mamata Banerjee sent a letter of support to the leaders through Derek ‘O’ Brien, who however did not turn up at the venue. The agitation programme, which saw the attendance of former Prime Minister HD Devegowda of JD (S), Dushyant Chautala of Indian National Lok Dal and SJP’s Kamal Morarka is being dubbed as the “first solid step” towards the merger of the parties. The leaders recalled that the Janata Parivar had formed three governments in alliance in the past and reminded Modi dispensation that they have got “only 31 percent of votes” and will have to “go back” if they did not fulfil the promises. [caption id=“attachment_2001737” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav (left) and JD-U chief Nitish Kumar. IBNLive[/caption] Addressing the crowd, former Bihar chief minister and JD-U chief Nitish Kumar asked: “Why has the NDA government failed to fulfil its promises made before the elections? Where is the black money that it promised to bring back?” He accused Modi of not acting tough on the recent cases of religious conversions by right-wing Hindu groups and said the country should not be divided on religious grounds. “They are spending money on religion conversions. They made false promises during their poll campaign. Now, they are diverting people’s attention,” said Nitish. “How can religious conversions done by offering incentives not be coerced?” asked the former Bihar CM. Nitish Kumar also called for forming a more comprehensive opposition group to take on BJP. “From our identities as separate parties, we have to merge in a single party. An agreement has been reached on this. Mulayam Singh has to work out the modalities. Let us take a vow now. “…We should contact even others. Let us make a comprehensive Opposition. We should all come together. Setting aside our prejudices, we want to form a strong Opposition,” he said. RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav accused the Modi government of communalism and making false promises. “You have failed in protecting the nation,” said Lalu. “Where are the black money crusaders now? Why is Ramdev silent?” said Lalu, as he said that the government had failed in fulfilling its promise of bringing back black money abroad to the nation. “I told my son Tejaswi to tweet to Ramdev and ask about black money,” he said, according to NDTV. “We are waiting for black money to come back. We can wait a few more months. If you can’t manage to bring it back by plane, we can arrange camels,” said the RJD chief. Lalu also took a dig at Modi’s foreign visits. “Chinese intrusion took place 7 km inside India, and you were sitting on the swing with the Chinese President,” said Lalu as the crowd cheered him on. Slamming NDA for ‘Ghar Wapsi’, Lalu said, “The minorities have also fought for India’s independence. And you engage in ‘ghar wapsi’? The Modi government is trying to create riots in India.” Lalu also took a dig at Modi over the recent BJP-TMC bitter rivalry. “They are trying to harass the Mamata Banerjee government,” he said. “We will visit places all over India and speak against the Modi government’s design and policies.” Humming a Hindi film song, he said that it’s time to forget things of the past and they will script a new chapter now. After Lalu’s speech, it was SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav’s turn to lash out at the Modi government. Slamming the Gujarat development model, he said, “The largest number of farmer suicides have taken place in Gujarat.” “They wanted to create a national model based on the Gujarat development model. I said that a model that couldn’t even provide water to the people and care for farmers is useless,” said the SP chief. “BJP lied to the people and cheated the nation. They want to spread riots,” he said. “The Agra incident was just the beginning. They are preparing such incidents for the entire country.” “The Modi government is not in touch with the poor people and their needs,” said Mulayam. Asking the people to support their “struggle” against the NDA, Mulayam Singh Yadav said, “We will not be limited to UP and Bihar now. Our objective is to bring good governance at the Centre.” “We will not stop our struggle until the BJP is out of power,” he said. (With agency inputs)