It happened this week and the event has a big political implication not only for the BMC election, but also for the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Shivanand Tiwari, the national vice president of RJD believes that political barriers are falling in the country and youth leaders are setting examples to defeat the common political opponent – BJP.
“BJP is a common political opponent not only for the political parties but also for the common people. If you scan the data of National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB), 12 persons committed suicide per one lakh people in the country in year 2021. Majority of them are low earning people, labourers, daily wages employees, lower and middle class people. Why they are committing suicide? The simple answer is: wrong financial policies of the centre,” Tiwari said.
“The Narendra Modi government brought demonetisation in the country which broke the backbone of lower and middle class people. They have not come out of it and hence, they are against the BJP government. The inflation is at the highest level and the centre is selling all assets to private companies. The life of common people is extremely difficult now. If such a situation continues for 5 years after 2024, anything can happen. People may revolt violently. You cannot squeeze poor people to death,” Tiwari said.
“A reflection is seen in the Bharat Jodo Yatra of Rahul Gandhi. People are supporting him in a large numbers. The youth leaders are also coming together, interacting with each other. Aditya Thackeray in Maharashtra, Tejashwi Yadav in Bihar, Abhishek Benerjee in West Bengal, M.K. Stalin in Tamil Nadu seek to defeat BJP. Hence, the unexpected political decision is taking place in the country and it is a healthy sign,” Tiwari said.
“At present, Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav are on one side and they have decisive vote banks in Bihar. The voters of Lalu Prasad are aggressive in nature wise while the voters of Nitish Kumar are poor people. There is a fine line between aggressive and poor people as the latter are apprehensive about walking with the former. It’s up to these two leaders to build confidence among them. So, running a government in Bihar and replicating the result of 2015 in 2024 are two different things. These two leaders have to work hard for the support of common people of Bihar and defeat BJP,” Tiwari said.
Madan Mohan Jha, the state president of Congress Bihar unit and MLC told IANS: “The Constitution of the country is under threat. Hence, everyone is making an effort to save it. Aditya Thackeray coming to Bihar and meeting Tejashwi Yadav and Nitish Kumar is a big development. It is not related to the BMC election. The idea is to make a strategy to save the country and save the Constitution. At present, every constitutional and non constitutional institution and media are captured by BJP and RSS. They are not even allowing freedom of speech. Those who are against them are sent to jail. They have created an atmosphere of fear where people are not comfortable and hence, they are supporting opposition parties in the country.”
“Our leader Rahul Gandhi is getting great support in Bharat Jodo Yatra. Why is it happening? It is happening only because BJP has not left any option for opposition parties and common people. Hence, they are getting united and its reflections are seen during the Yatra,” Jha said.
“I am quoting Rahul Gandhi who says that Bharat Jodo Yatra has nothing to do with political campaigns. It is just a medium to connect with common people. Bharat Jodo Yatra is not a political rally, still people are coming with him in large numbers. They are looking at him to save the Constitution and the country,” Jha said.
“I firmly believe that lies and falsehood spread quickly but it is not sustainable for a long time. On the other hand, the truth spreads slowly but it last. Bharat Jodo Yatra is not limited only in this country but it has an overseas impact. The future of the Congress party in Bihar will also improve here,” Jha said.
“The Bihari people living in Mumbai and Maharashtra have not forgotten the abuse and insult the people of Shiv-Sena (Uddhav unit) did to them. They insulted the people of North India. On what grounds, Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav would go to Mumbai and campaign for Shiv-Sena (Uddhav unit)?” Modi asked.
On the other hand, BJP leaders are observing that the meeting between Aditya Thackeray and Tejashwi Yadav was just vote bank politics.
“Aditya Thackeray came to Patna to secure Bihari vote bank in the BMC election but his party would not benefit from it. The real Shiv-Sena which is walking on the ideology of Bala Saheb is with BJP (Shinde Unit) and running the government. The people are with him,” said Sushil Kumar Modi, BJP Rajya Sabha MP.
“The Uddhav unit of Shiv-Sena is standing with Rahul Gandhi and Congress party. They have insulted Veer Sawarkar. Nitish Kumar should reveal his stand. Nitish Kumar burned the stove of opposition unity but his Khichadhi did not cook on it. The heat of the stove has cooled and hence he has not gone to Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat for the election campaign,” Modi said.
National General Secretary of BJP OBC Morcha and Bihar BJP Spokesperson Nikhil Anand objected to Aditya Thackeray’s meeting with Nitish and Tejashwi and said: “Nitish and Tejashwi shook hands with Aditya Thackeray to hurt Sushant’s soul.”
“Nitish-Tejashwi insulted the sentiments of Bihar and Biharis for their superficial politics. These leaders of Bihar forgot that these very same people of MVA alliance used to abuse and beat the Biharis in Maharashtra and drive them away by snatching their jobs,” Anand said.
-IANS