‘I remember Raj Dharma remark of Vajpayee’, says Tejashwi Yadav

Darbhanga: A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi charged Lalu Prasad with having tried to shield the culprits in the Godhra train burning case, the RJD president’s son Tejashwi Yadav on Sunday recounted the famous “Raj dharma” remark of Atal Bihari Vajpayee made in the backdrop of communal violence in Gujarat.

Yadav was responding to queries on Modi’s speech at a rally in Darbhanga the previous day where Modi had charged the RJD president with having tried to “shield” those guilty in two-decade-old Godhra train burning incident and “put blame on kar sevaks”.

“He (PM) can say whatever he wants. But I remember what Atal Ji had said at that point of time. Atal Ji, the then PM, was addressing a press conference…. Modi Ji in his capacity as the then chief minister of Gujarat was seated beside the PM who had advised the former to follow ‘Raj dharma’ during the 2002 communal riots in the state,” Yadav told PTI video.

Further commenting on the PM’s accusation that INDIA bloc and RJD are trying to “steal” the reservation of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and other backward classes (OBCs) to hand them over to Muslims, Yadav said, “These are baseless things and far from reality. The ruling NDA has decided to end reservation to OBCs and other classes by privatising the government’s several wings and organisations.”

Modi had accused Prasad of having given quotas to Muslims in Bihar and advocating the same in 2007 while serving in the Union government as the Railway Minister. “The PM should talk about the issues concerning people. People have decided to give a befitting reply to the BJP-led NDA and they will face a humiliating defeat in this election,” he said.

“Why is the PM maintaining a stoic silence over the Karnataka sex scandal? The accused is involved in abuse of several women in Karnataka. They (BJP) are more into protecting rapists and helping them get away,” Yadav said.

Yadav condemned the militant attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch in which one Indian Air Force personnel was killed and four injured on Saturday. “We strongly condemn this terror attack and join the nation in standing together against terrorism. Our deepest condolences to the family of the brave warrior who made the supreme sacrifice,” he said.