Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi are likely to participate in the 'Sanjha Virasat Bachao' programme organised by senior rebel Janata Dal (U) leader Sharad Yadav on Thursday in the National Capital. The JD (U) has, however, asked Yadav not to hold the event.
Besides the Congress leaders, other Opposition parties including Samjawadi Party, DMK, TMC, BSP and left parties are also slated to participate in the programme which is being seen as Yadav's show of strength against his party chief Nitish Kumar's decision to ally with the BJP.
“Around 17 parties will attend our programme where Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi will also be present. The leaders of the Opposition parties, intellectuals, farmers, Dalits and tribals will attend the event. We had decided to launch this programme three months ago which is in the interest of country and not against the Government,” Yadav said.
Asserting that the composite culture of India is preamble of Constitution, he said the Constitution is under threat, therefore, it was important to launch the programme. “The leaders of Opposition parties have been discussing for the last three months to convene a conference as to how to save our composite culture,” Yadav said.
On being asked whether Nitish would come for the conference, he said that everybody is invited to join this programme. “The 'sanjha virasat bachao sammelan' (save composite culture programme) is not against anybody but in the interest of the country. This is in the interest of 125 crore people of the country,” he said at a media briefing.
Yadav was accompanied by Ali Anwar Ansari, a Rajya Sabha member suspended from the parliamentary party by the JD (U), and Arun Shrivastava, recently sacked from the post of general secretary.
He cited incidents such as the suicide of Rohith Vemula and the disappearance of JNU student Najeeb Ahmed, besides suicides of farmers across the country, to suggest that the situation was tough for underprivileged people.
While supporting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comments against violence in the name of faith, Yadav said it was not reflected on the ground and Modi needed to tell his party's Governments to follow his dictum.
JD(U) spokesperson K C Tyagi, at the same time, downplayed Yadav's move to invite the Opposition leaders, saying nobody will have any objection over a meeting on “saving composite culture”, the stated objective of the event.
Tyagi, however, suggested that the veteran socialist will cross the red line of the party's discipline if he takes part in the RJD's August 27 rally in Patna as he called the lalu Prasad-led party “corrupt” and “evil forces”.
“For God's sake, he should not go to that rally. We have no problem with the questions he is raising but we will take exception to him sharing stage with tainted people. If he does not attend lalu's rally, then we will respect him more. He should not be seen with evil forces,” Tyagi said in a statement hoping that Yadav attends the JD(U)'s national executive meeting in Patna on August 19.