United they stand: Opposition parties join RJD protest

NEW DELHI: “If one Nirbhaya can bring down the UPA government, 40 girls can topple 40 governments,” warned Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, expressing his solidarity at the protest called by RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav against the Bihar government for the Muzaffarpur shelter rapes.


Kejriwal’s strong words, however, held a political irony as Congress chief Rahul Gandhi also shared the stage and the Nirbhaya case had proved a waterloo for UPA in terms of its image. But this was a minor ruffle on a day when opposition parties united over the demand for action against those guilty of rape of girls at a shelter home in Muzaffarpur, with Tejashwi calling the situation in Bihar as “Rakshas Raj”.

Rahul Gandhi said the country is witnessing a dangerous trend “where everyone who is weak is under attack”. Opposition leaders across party-lines demanded resignation of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar. JD(U) had appealed to Congress and Kejriwal to keep away from the protest but its words had little effect.

Attacking the Centre and Bihar government and giving an “ultimatum” of 30 days to bring the culprits to book, Kejriwal said the Nitish Kumar government “continued to look the other way despite knowing what was happening with the children at the shelter home for months”.

Warning BJP that people will not spare it if action is not taken against the culprits, Kejriwal said: “Even after things were brought to light by NGOs and other government agencies, the government continued to fund and refused to initiate action.”

The Delhi CM said it is clear that perpetrators had connections with top officials and political leaders. “I demand in three months the guilty should be hanged, no mater to which party they belong and how big they are,” he said, adding the issue was not one of politics. He criticised BJP for its “attitude” towards women, saying even foreign minister Sushma Swaraj was not spared (in social media over the Lucknow passport case). The protest was attended by Left leaders like

Sitaram Yechury

and D Raja besides representatives of Samajwadi Party, TMC and RLD among others.

Full report on www.toi.in


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