Lalu takes on BJP, RSS; urges all secular forces to join hands

Patna : Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav on Thursday accused the BJP and RSS of communalising he nation in wake of the JNU row and urged all secular forces to join hands to defeat their ulterior motives.

Yadav asked as to why the BJP remained silent when Pakistani flags were raised and anti-national slogans were shouted in Jammu and Kashmir.

The RJD chief further said that the government had raked up the JNU issue to divert the attention of the people from Rohith Vemula’s suicide at the Hyderabad University.

“Where was their patriotism when Pakistani flags were raised in Jammu and Kashmir during their rule? They are using the JNU row to communalise the nation. They have nothing to do with nationalism,” Yadav told reporters here.

Amid the raging controversy surrounding the arrest of Jawaharlal Nehru students’ union president Kanhaiya Kumar, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi along with senior party leaders met President Pranab Mukherjee this afternoon.

The JNU students are on strike demanding Kanhaiya Kumar’s release.

Kanhaiya, who has been booked under sedition charge in connection with an event in JNU where anti-national slogans were allegedly raised last week, has been remanded to judicial custody till March 2. (ANI)