'Janta Aankh Nikaal Legi': Lalu Prasad Yadav Hits Out At BJP Over Candidates' Remarks On 'Changing' Constitution

Lalu Prasad, former MP and a member of the Union Cabinet during Manmohan Singh's tenure, expressed his distress that many BJP leaders have been speaking of changing the Constitution.

New Delhi: RJD president Lalu Prasad on Monday took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for failure to rein in BJP leaders who spoke of bringing in a new Constitution if the party won a two-thirds majority in Lok Sabha polls. Lalu further slammed PM Modi remarking, "The Constitution, framed by the  Dalit icon Baba Saheb Ambedkar, holds a special place in the hearts of the impoverished and marginalized sections of society, and those who cast a malevolent glance on it will have their eyes gouged out".

"The PM is actually scared. He is apprehensive of a defeat since he stands exposed before the nation. To cover up his fear he is boasting of 370 plus seats for the BJP", news agency PTI quoted the former Bihar chief minister as saying.

Lalu Prasad, former MP and a member of the Union Cabinet during Manmohan Singh's tenure, expressed his disappointment that many BJP leaders have been speaking of changing the Constitution, but there was no "karvayi" (action) against them and some of them were even being allegedly fielded by the party.

Notably, the outbursts of Prasad, who is out on bail, having been convicted in a number of fodder scam cases, come in the backdrop of a remark by Ayodhya's sitting MP Lallu Singh, who later retreated his statement claiming it was a slip of tongue. Earlier, similar remarks had been made by Jyoti Mirdha, a BJP candidate in Rajasthan, and the party's Karnataka MP Anant Hegde.

"The Constitution has been bequeathed to the poor, the depressed classes, by Babasaheb Ambedkar. They will not tolerate any attempts at tinkering", Prasad said. Lalu further added, "Anybody who casts a malevolent glance on the Constitution will have his eyes gouged out (janta aankh nikaal legi)".

The RJD supremo slammed his longstanding adversary, Nitish Kumar, Bihar's Chief Minister and JD(U) president, who was trolled for his gaffe at a prime ministerial rally, where he mistakenly claimed the NDA would secure 4,000 votes. A few days later he repeated the mistake, only to correct himself saying that he was sorry for the slip-up, said Prasad, referring to another rally that the JD(U) boss addressed in Nawada.