Accusing the NDA government of converting yoga into a “stunt”, Janata Dal (United) leader Sharad Yadav said here on Monday that all religious scriptures had added a sacred element to the exercise, which was being ridiculed in the Yoga Day celebrations. “What is the use of yoga when it is combined with the consumption of liquor?” he asked.
Addressing a press conference on the conclusion of his two-day visit to Rajasthan, Mr. Yadav said while the Bharatiya Janata Party governments in several States were planning noisy celebrations on the Yoga Day on Tuesday, his party's call for total prohibition had been completely ignored.
The former JD(U) president said liquor was prohibited in Bihar after his party formed the government, even as people like Baba Ramdev were sending confusing signals. The two-year-old NDA government was resorting to a “stunt” on the pretext of Yoga Day celebrations in a bid to hide its failure on all fronts, he charged.
Mr. Yadav, who is also a Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar, demanded immediate arrest of guilty persons in the episode of alleged tapping of telephone conversations of some top industrialists and politicians by the Essar Group between 2001 and 2006.
He said the NDA government had come to power with the promise of jobs to the youths and sufficient water to very agricultural field. Both the NDA government at the Centre and the BJP government in the State had turned out to be an utter failure, he said, adding that they should quit if they were unable to fulfil their promises.
Mr. Yadav admitted that JD(U) had become weak in the State and said several steps would be taken to strengthen it. Not ruling out the possibility of emergence of a third front, he said his party was aiming to stand on its own feet in the run-up to the State Assembly elections in 2018.
During his visit, Mr. Yadav addressed a farmers' rally at Daulatpura on the outskirts of Jaipur on Sunday and launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who he said had no time for the farmers committing suicide after crop failure due to drought and other vagaries of nature. In the NDA regime, the lives of people had become harsher as the prices of essential commodities had increased manifold, he said.
Mr. Yadav reviewed the party organisation in the State and held meetings with the party functionaries. The District Advocates Bar Association also felicitated him on his election to Rajya Sabha.
