Janata Dal (United) president Sharad Yadav on Thursday said fasts should not be used to press for popular demands for, the fasting personality would come to the forefront while core issues get relegated to the background.
Civil society activism, though effective for spreading awareness, could never match a genuine political struggle by a proactive Opposition.
“Undue coverage”
Referring to recent fasts by social activists Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev, Mr. Yadav blamed the media for giving undue coverage to such activities by giving blow-by-blow updates.
“The media makes headlines out of the blood pressure of fasting personalities,” he told journalists at the party headquarters here.
“Jayaprakash Narayan and Ram Manohar Lohia always said fasts shift the attention from the issues to the person. Mahatma Gandhi's fasts went on for weeks and were not weekend affairs.”
“Corruption rampant”
The Lok Sabha MP from Bihar also spoke on rampant corruption plaguing the country and said the real estate and Information Technology sectors attracted the major chunk of black money.
He said the Central Bureau of Investigation was a competent agency but it should be made independent to function impartially and more effectively.
Mr. Yadav said the Nitish Kumar-led government in Bihar had successfully managed to translate Lohia and JP's socialism on the ground by increasing jobs in the public sector and taking steps to tackle unemployment among educated youth.
“Post-liberalisation, jobs have been created only for English-speaking youth with technical education qualifications. The need is to provide employment to millions of students educated in regional languages.”
The JD(U) president said Maoism was a response to the ongoing “loot of natural resources” in the mineral-rich forests.
