Patna: Under fire for alleged inaction by the government in the case of the killing of a 20-year-old in a road rage attack in Gaya allegedly by the son of a legislator from the ruling JD(U), Tejaswi Yadav, Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister and son of RJD supremo Lalu Yadav, today defended his government from the BJP’s charge of having plunged the state into ‘jungle raj’. However, the comparisons he drew with the Gaya incident in his government’s defence gave a peculiar picture altogether.
The Bihar Deputy CM today compared the cold-blooded murder of class XII student Aditya Sachdev, allegedly at the hands of JD(U) MLC Manorama Devi's son Rocky Yadav, with the dreaded Pathankot terror attack that struck India in early January. He was responding to media queries on alleged inaction by the government in arresting the perpetrators of the crime and allegedly shielding the JDU legislator’s son from facing the law.
"Isn't raising of Pakistani flags in Kashmir valley an example of jungle raj? What about terrorists' attack on the IAF base at Pathankot, isn't that jungle raj," Tejaswi Yadav said in reply.
"In Madhya Pradesh an officer was killed brutally by sand mafias. In Vyapam scam witnesses were killed one by one ... but this is not called a 'jungle raj'," he said. "When an engineer was killed in Jharkhand, neither the conscience of the BJP was pricked nor the BJP-supported media remembered 'jungle raj' jumla (euphism)," he added.
While the attack was directed at the BJP, its major political opponent in the state, Tejaswi went on to defend the deteriorating law and order situation in the state, saying it was not the first incident of road rage in India.
"The BJP and media supported by the party are advertising the Gaya incident in a way as if it is a rare and first incident of road rage," he said in a statement as part of "Dil ki Baat" programme run by him.
"If a relative of any accused is member of a party (it) does not mean that the lawbreaker enjoys protection of the power," he said.
The Deputy CM in the Nitish Kumar government and younger son of Lalu Prasad alleged that the saffron party has maximum numbers of people with criminal background who enjoy its patronage.
The RJD leader also came down heavily on a large section of media, print as well electronic, "which is singing in tune with a particular party (BJP) after giving a go-bye to principles of journalism".
Tejaswi Yadav said "our supporters neither express opinion by sending SMS to prime time channel nor air views on facebook and twitter. They give answer only by pressing EVM button at the time of election."
He strongly defended the grand secular alliance government in the state and asserted rule of law prevails and would continue to be like that in future too.
