Amid the furore over senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s “vote chori” allegations against the Election Commission, Tejashwi Yadav, leader of its key ally Rashtriya Janata Dal, exhorted the people of Bihar to make the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha the next Prime Minister of the country. Yadav made the remarks during the third day of Congress’ “Vote Adhikar Yatra” in Nawada.
Posing a striking challenge for the Centre, the former Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar urged the youth to “root out the NDA” in the Assembly polls scheduled later this year and compared their governance to a rickety old car (‘khatara‘).
“In the upcoming Assembly polls, we shall root out the NDA, which has been running a government comparable to a rickety old car (‘khatara‘) for the last 20 years. And in the next Lok Sabha polls, we shall make Rahul Gandhi the Prime Minister,” said Yadav, triggering applause from the crowd.
Yadav, who was accompanied by Gandhi and other INDIA bloc leaders, termed the Rae Bareli MP as the one “who has given sleepless nights to Prime Minister Narendra Modi” by holding the state-wide yatra.
The march, which began in Sasaram on Sunday, has been held amid intensified protests against the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar. Ahead of the march, Gandhi slammed the EC, alleging that its “latest conspiracy” was to “steal the election in Bihar through the SIR of electoral rolls.” In a counterpoint, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar asked the 55-year-old leader to either submit his allegations in a sworn affidavit within a week or apologise to the nation.
Firing another salvo at the BJP, Yadav said, “They have colluded with the Election Commission to deprive the people of Bihar of their right to vote.” Many people who are alive, who had voted in the last Lok Sabha polls, have been declared dead and their names are being deleted from the electoral rolls, he claimed. Continuing his vehement opposition against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Yadav termed it an exercise to “snatch” people’s right to vote.
“The SIR is dacoity of votes and we will not allow that to happen. It’s a conspiracy of the ruling dispensation to disenfranchise voters in Bihar,” the 35-year-old leader alleged. “The BJP and the EC think they can take the people of Bihar for a ride. But they need to know that in Bihar, we mix lime with khaini (raw tobacco) and swallow it without a fuss. We are Biharis. And as the saying goes, a Bihari can take on anybody,” the RJD leader said.
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The yatra, which will also pass through Nalanda, Sheikhpura, Lakhisarai, Munger, Bhagalpur, Katihar, Purnea, Araria, Supaul, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Sitamarhi, East Champaran, West Champaran, Gopalganj, Siwan, Chhapra, and Ara, is scheduled to conclude with a rally in Patna on September 1.
