The controversy over Tejashwi Yadav’s allegedly eating fish during Navratri snowballed on Friday with the Prime Minister hitting out at the RJD leader, his father Lalu Yadav and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, claiming that they are exhibiting thoughts from the Mughal era.
Accusing the opposition of indulging in the politics of appeasement and going after a particular vote bank, the Prime Minister also claimed that such videos are being posted to tease and annoy most of India’s population.
Tejashwi Yadav had clarified that the video was shot a day before Navratri began and that it had been uploaded to “test the IQ of the BJP and Godi media followers”.
Addressing a rally at Udhampur in Jammu and Kashmir a week before the Lok Sabha elections, PM Modi referred to a video of Rahul Gandhi and Lalu Yadav cooking mutton at the latter’s home in September last year and said in Hindi, “Congress and other members of the INDIA alliance are not bothered about the feelings of most of the country’s population. During Sawan (an auspicious month in the Hindu calendar), they are going to the house of a convicted man and cooking mutton. Not only that, they are also putting up videos and teasing the people of the country.”
“The law does not stop anyone from eating anything, and neither does Modi, but their intention is different. When the Mughals attacked, they were not satisfied with defeating the king alone. They did not get satisfaction until they destroyed temples… they enjoyed doing this. In the same way, by uploading the video in the month of Sawan, they (the opposition) are exhibiting the thoughts of the Mughal era, attempting to tease people and fortify their vote bank,” the PM alleged.
Training his guns on Tejashwi Yadav, without naming him, the PM said uploading a video of consuming non-vegetarian food during Navratra was also an attempt in the same direction.
“Who are you trying to please by hurting the sentiments of people? I know these people will now shower abuses on me for saying this, but it is my duty in a democracy to tell people what is right when lines are crossed, and I am doing my duty. They do this deliberately to attack the country’s beliefs, so a big part of the country watches their videos and gets uncomfortable. They have gone beyond appeasement and are giving evidence of their Mughal-like thinking,” the PM said.
