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Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Monday came out with a list of political leaders who had several siblings or children.
Mr. Yadav’s move was aimed at countering statements by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on people having “more children”. While Mr. Modi was alluding to Muslims in his speech, Mr. Kumar was referring to the Lalu family.
Speaking in Patna, Mr. Yadav said: “I want to share an information to those people who are indulging in such debate that Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar who wrote the Constitution had 14 siblings; freedom fighter Subhas Chandra Bose had 14 brothers and sisters; brilliant scholar and Bharat Ratna awardee former President V.V. Giri had 14 children, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had seven brothers and sisters; Chief Minister Nitish Kumar himself has five brothers and sisters, Prime Minister Narendra Modiji has two brothers and sisters, while Prime Minister Modi’s father Damodar Das ji had seven brothers and sisters.”
He further said, “Union Home Minister Amit Shah ji has six sisters, Patna Sahib MP and former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has seven brothers and sisters, former Telangana CM Chandrashekhar Raoji has 10 siblings, Rabindranath Tagore ji, who wrote the national anthem, had seven brothers and sisters, former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda has six children, former Prime Minister Narasimha Raoji had eight children.”
While addressing a rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara on Sunday, Mr. Modi said the Congress will distribute private wealth to those having “more children”. He was referring to former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s purported statement about Muslims having the “first claim” on the nation’s resources.
Similarly, while addressing a public meeting in Katihar on Saturday, Mr. Kumar made a controversial statement against RJD veteran and Mr. Yadav’s father, Lalu Prasad, for promoting his sons and daughters in politics. Without taking the name of Mr. Prasad, Mr. Kumar said: “Paida to bahut kar diya, itna jyada paida karna chahiye kisi ko, bal bachcha? (should anybody have so many children?)
Mr. Yadav, however, said he respected Mr. Kumar like his father. “I will keep respecting him in future as well. I always stood by his side like his son and he himself had said many times that I was like his son. Whatever he is saying is not his words, someone is pressurising him to speak like that, Mr. Yadav said.
Mr. Yadav urged Mr. Modi to talk about real issues affecting the people. “I appeal to him with folded hands that he should stop doing politics of hatred. The youth, elders, businessmen, farmers, mothers and sisters of the country all have the same target like Arjun – poverty, unemployment, inflation and bad economy. This is the real issue. The Prime Minister should tell us his vision for Bihar and India, what he has done in 10 years.”
Lashing out at Mr. Modi for this speech, Mr. Yadav said that rather than talking about real issues, he only speaks on “Hindu, Muslims, mandir and masjid (temple and mosque)“, which doesn’t the suit the stature of a Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, BJP’s national media panellist-cum-state spokesperson Jairam Viplav targeted the “appeasement politics” of the Congress and said the Prime Minister had exposed its dark intentions.
“It is a fact that the Congress has always pursued appeasement politics, ignoring national interests. The Congress’s intentions are well known through actions like Partition, formation of Waqf Board, tampering with the Preamble of the Constitution by imposing Emergency, and efforts to include Muslims in the Scheduled Caste list and provide special reservation in government jobs during the UPA regime,” Mr. Viplav said.
