Jamshedpur: Jharkhand’s former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Babulal Marandi, has alleged that holding protests during Navratri is part of a deliberate conspiracy against Sanatan culture. Speaking at a press conference at the Jamshedpur Circuit House in Bistupur on Tuesday, he criticised Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal, Left parties and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, among other opposition leaders. Marandi alleged that these leaders were acting at the behest of foreign powers and attempting to weaken India’s Sanatan culture.
Marandi said efforts were being made to discredit the country’s constitutional institutions and undermine public confidence in them. He alleged that the opposition was trying to mislead people by accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of coming to power through vote theft. Questioning the allegation, he asked who was responsible for the Congress losing ground in Gujarat decades ago and for its prolonged decline in West Bengal if Modi had secured power through electoral malpractice.
He said India had made progress in various areas of development since Narendra Modi became Prime Minister in 2014. However, Marandi claimed that some forces were unhappy with the country’s progress and were seeking to create obstacles to its development.
The BJP leader also levelled allegations against the Congress over the events surrounding the BJP’s protest outside the Congress office on Monday. Referring to the demonstration in Bistupur, he described the alleged stone-pelting at BJP workers as shameful and claimed that the incident was deliberate. He also referred to an alleged sexual harassment case linked to Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and accused the Congress of maintaining silence on the issue. Marandi did not present detailed evidence at the press conference to substantiate these allegations.
Marandi said there was a need to identify forces attempting to create unrest in the country and cause economic losses through protests. He claimed that the public would respond to such activities and teach those responsible a lesson.
BJP Jamshedpur metropolitan president Sanjeev Sinha and district media in-charge Prem Jha were also present at the press conference.
