Janata Dal-United president Sharad Yadav played a key role in persuading leaders of six former Janata Dal parties to merge into a single entity. The new party will have Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav as its chairman but is yet to announce its name and election symbol. Yadav tells Archis Mohan that reports about disquiet among the factions are ‘sponsored’.
Edited excerpts:
What will be the strategy of the six parties inside Parliament, particularly the Rajya Sabha, when the session reconvenes? The SP had indicated it might support the Narendra Modi government’s land ordinance if its concerns were accommodated?
We will give voice to all the burning questions, be it the protest against the communal agenda or the government’s anti-farmer and anti-poor policies. Of all the issues confronting us, the land ordinance is the most vital. Let alone the six parties, the entire opposition will be together on this. Wait and watch. All of us with a presence in the Rajya Sabha -- Janata Dal-United, SP, Indian National Lok Dal, Janata Dal-Secular and Rashtriya Janata Dal -- are committed to opposing the land ordinance.
I had brought the Congress, Left parties, Trinamool Congress, SP and others together to organise the march from Parliament to the Rashtrapati Bhavan against the land bill on March 17.
That the six parties have been unable to reach a consensus on a common name and the election symbol has been interpreted as a sign of disagreement?
The issue was unity. Now that has been achieved. We have formed a seven-member committee under (SP leader) Ram Gopal Yadav to decide on the name and election symbol of the party. Do you really think agreeing on an election symbol is that important or will it lead to disagreement? We need to pursue the issue according to the Election Commission guidelines. We are in consultation with the Commission to see what election symbol we can adopt.
Our agenda is to forge a unity of parties that think for the farmers, the tribals, the minorities, the poor, the marginalised and also voice issues that concern those who study in their mother tongues and not English. It was important to organise ourselves into a single unit before launching the battle against a government that is serving only the interests of the big corporates.
There are reports that while SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav is keen, other leaders in his party are unhappy about the unification?
This is baseless. These are sponsored news items. There will be several attempts to break our unity because our opponents know the potent danger that the new party will pose to them. There are strong interests that are inimical to our unity.
I have repeatedly said, and this I said on the evening of May 16 when 2014 Lok Sabha election results were announced, that our loss and BJP’s victory was as much a result of divisions amongst ourselves. We were divided into nine different political parties. This created a vacuum and BJP benefitted.
BJP president Amit Shah has described the JD-U and RJD coming together as the return of the jungle raj...
We are not concerned with what they have to say about us. The people of Bihar are already experiencing the good governance under Nitish Kumar, where Lalu ji’s party is a partner. We will fight the Bihar assembly elections together. Our party will raise the issues of peasants and workers suffering under this government’s policies.
Our critics keep talking about our infighting. But do look at our record when it comes to raising issues that concern people, and also our sacrifice. History is replete with instances of how we have been on the forefront of raising issues of economic and social disparity. Socialist leaders like Ram Manohar Lohia, Jayaprakash Narayan, S M Joshi and others practically ran the Quit India Movement of 1942 when most other Congress leaders had been arrested. We were the first to oppose the Congress in independent India, played a key role in the formation of non-Congress state governments of 1967, fighting against the Emergency of 1975-77 and forming the first non-Congress government of Janata Party at the Centre. We also led the fight for social justice and implementing the Mandal Commission report that provided for job reservations for socially and economically backward castes. In 1990, we sacrificed our government on the issue of Babri Masjid demolition.
Let’s have a holistic debate on our contribution. Do look at our achievements. Can you question any of our leaders, whether Lohia, JP or Madhu Limaye their personal integrity? We have also been on the forefront of fighting for democracy in Nepal and for the liberation of Goa.
Lok Janshakti Party leader, your former associate in Bihar who is now a minister in the Modi government, Ram Vilas Paswan, has termed the new party as anti-Dalit? How do you see the challenge from ‘mahadalit’ Jitan Ram Manjhi?
I don’t want to comment on Paswan. All he is interested in is to remain in power. As for Manjhi, he is unlikely to be much of a factor. People of Bihar have seen through him. The poor and the deprived are with the Nitish government.
SP leader Kiranmoy Nanda has said SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav should be the leader of the new party in the Rajya Sabha. (Ram Gopal is currently the leader of SP in the Upper House, while Sharad Yadav leads the JD-U?
I don’t want to reply to comments by those indulging in sycophancy.
