Modi exhorts BJP leaders to fast across India to expose Congress

A day ahead of his fast, Prime Minister Narendra Modi came down heavily on the Opposition parties accusing them of killing democracy by not allowing Parliament to function even for a day. Addressing BJP MPs through audio conferencing on Wednesday evening, he urged the legislators and party leaders to expose the crime committed by the Congress to the world by holding fast across the country. 

“The people, who couldn’t gain power in 2014, don’t want the country to move forward. They didn’t let Parliament work for a single day. They killed democracy and we will observe fast to bring their crime in front of world. I will also hold fast, while doing my work,” he said to MPs and party leaders.

Modi said the BJP leaders and its workers will observe the fast on Thursday to “expose” those handful people who “throttled” democracy by stalling Parliament proceedings during the Budget Session. Besides Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu will observe the fast in Delhi. The PM will go to Chennai in connection with the inauguration of Defence Expo and will be back to Delhi in the evening.

As per the schedule prepared by the BJP for observing the fast across the country, Union Health Minister JP Nadda will be in Modi’s constituency Varanasi, while Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will travel to Patna for it, said party leaders. Many other Ministers will travel to various places across the country to observe the fast. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will observe the fast in Chennai, Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javdekar in Benguluru, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel in Tamil Nadu, and Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar in Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh.  Tourism Minister KJ Alphons will observe the fast in Kerala.

Besides Ministers, party MPs will also sit on a fast in their respective constituencies, while BJP chief Amit Shah will hold a sit-in in Hubli in poll-bound Karnataka. The ruling BJP has blamed the Opposition, led by the Congress party, for the washout of the Budget Session. The session was the worst in terms of productivity in about a decade.

Last week, while speaking at the BJP’s parliamentary party meeting, Modi had accused the Opposition, particularly the Congress, of practising divisive politics and stalling Parliament.