PATNA : RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav on Friday hit out at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his comment on the “Opposition’s Mughal mindset”, saying that he is not speaking about real issues.
In a veiled attack on Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and RJD’s Lalu Prasad Yadav, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during an election rally in Jammu and Kashmir’s Udhampur on Friday, accused the Opposition leaders of demonstrating a “Mughal mindset” and “teasing” the people of the country by consuming non-vegetarian food in the holy month of Sawan and posting a video of it online.
Modi’s potshots came after a row erupted over Tejashwi’s online post that went viral on social media during the Hindu festival of ‘Navratra’. The video shows Tejashwi and Vikassheel Insaan Party chief Mukesh Sahani eating fish.
The BJP grabbed the opportunity to attack the RJD leader saying that it was an insult to the sentiments of a majority of the Hindus, who do not eat non-vegetarian food in Bihar during the month of ‘Sawan’ as they consider it as holy.
Tejashwi, however, defended himself saying that the video shared on social media platform was of April 8, a day before beginning of ‘Navratra’. “I wanted to test the IQ of BJP leaders,” he said later.
During the rally in Udhampur, Modi said that he would invite criticism and attacks from his political opponents following his statement, but he believed that it was his responsibility in a democracy to present the true side of situations to people.
Meanwhile Tejashwi, aAddressing a rally in Bihar’s Gaya district, said that people have to understand that the PM is not speaking on real issues. “Did he talk about issues of Bihar — its youth, farmers and migration to other states? Key issues like poverty, unemployment and how many jobs have been provided need to be discussed. Why didn’t PM Modi eradicate poverty? Why was Bihar not given special category status?” he asked.
Reacting to Modi’s remarks, senior Congress leader Sameer Kumar Singh said that since the PM had nothing to showcase as achievement, he is raising such emotive issues during the poll campaign.