'What about poverty and unemployment issues': Tejashwi defends Lalu over 'Modi's family' remark

Patna: RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on Tuesday charged the ruling BJP at the Centre with diverting public attention by "Modi ka Parivaar" rhetoric, which came as a response to his father Lalu Prasad's attack on the Prime Minister a couple of days ago.

Talking to reporters here, Yadav said BJP leaders suffixing "Modi ka Parivar" to their names reminded him of "Main Bhi Chowkidar" rhetoric ahead of Lok Sabha polls of 2019 when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had coined a slogan "chowkidar chor hai".

"I am glad that the words of Lalu ji have so much impact," remarked the former Bihar Deputy CM sarcastically, adding: "But what about issues like poverty and unemployment that he had raised? He spoke of so many things".

Prasad, who is the RJD's founding president, had on Sunday told a rally here that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had "no family" of his own, in a bid to rubbish the latter’s criticism of "parivarvad" or dynastic politics.

Yadav said, "The PM claims that he treats the entire nation as his family. If that is so, why did his government try to crush, so brutally, the recent farmers' protests in Delhi?" He also read out a short Hindi poem, a rough translation of which said: "The country has 80 crore unemployed people and 120 crore citizens are reeling under price rise. All families are unhappy, yet they claim all are family".

Yadav also defended his father for the remark that Modi is "not a true Hindu" as he did not shave his hair and beard after the death of his mother.

"We are a devout Hindu family with a temple at our home where Aarti is performed every morning and evening. I got my daughter undergo the mundan (tonsure) ceremony. Why the PM chose not to follow the well establishment tradition, is for him to answer", said Yadav.