Raj Thackeray also calls for “Modi-mukt Bharat” and asked all opposition parties to get united to defeat BJP.
Caravan News
MUMBAI — Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Sunday gave a call for “Modi-mukt Bharat” and asked all opposition parties to get united to defeat BJP. “The country is fed up with the false promises made by Narendra Modi and his government,” said Thackeray while addressing party workers at a rally at Shivaji Park in central Mumbai.
He said the 2019 Lok Sabha polls would be the third war of India’s independence.
“India won its first freedom in 1947 and second in 1977. In 2019, India will need the third independence. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had given the slogan of Congress-mukt Bharat, but now it is necessary to say Modi-mukt Bharat,” Thackeray was quoted as saying by The Hindu.
Soon after the last week’s humiliating defeat of BJP in the Gorakhpur, Phulpur (Uttar Pradesh) and Araria (Bihar) Lok Sabha seats, Opposition parties and some allies of the saffron party have started talking strongly against BJP and Modi.
Earlier this week, Telugu Desam Party of Andhra Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu went out of the central government and NDA. Shiv Sena and Lok Janshakti Party have also hinted they are not happy with the government.
“Mr. Modi’s very own Gujarat voted against him and brought down the party’s tally. If Gujarat can do this, then think about the rest of the country. This government has given nothing but promises,” said Thackeray.
BJP was defeated in Uttar Pradesh by Samajwadi Party whose candidates were supported by Bahujan Samaj Party while in Bihar, the saffron party was defeated by RJD of Lalu Prasad Yadav.
In his speech, Raj Thackeray said demonetization of November 2016 would turn out to be the biggest scam of the country since Independence in 1947 if an investigation is carried out.
Raj Thackeray accused the current ruling BJP of plotting designs to trigger Hindu-versus-Muslim riots in the name of the Ram temple to consolidate political one-upmanship. “I suspect there is a larger design being worked to trigger Hindu and Muslim riots on the Ram temple agenda,” The Indian Express reported him as saying. They have started the process by bringing the temple agenda to the centre stage and in the Supreme Court, he said.
He warned that to win the next Lok Sabha polls, BJP would provoke Hindu-Muslim riots across the country.
Soon after the last week by-poll defeat, several leaders of BJP have been giving provocative statements in Bihar.
First, a doctored video was circulated in Araria claiming that the supporters of Araria winner Sarfaraz Alam were making anti-national slogans. Next, killing of an elderly person in Darbhanga was termed by some BJP leaders as the outcome of his naming a chowk after Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The BJP leaders repeated the charge even though local police, sitting BJP Lok Sabha MP of Darbhanga and state’s Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi trashed the charge as totally false.
On Friday, communal clashes erupted during a religious event in Bhagalpur. Media reports said the procession of BJP, RSS and Bajrang Dal workers was being led by Union Minister and BJP leader Ashwini Choubey’s son Arijit Shashwat and provocative, communal slogans were allegedly raised during the procession.
On Monday, the local police registered a case against Shashwat, who was BJP candidate in Bhagalpur in the last Assembly polls.
