“It is a trouble engine, not a double engine. Where was the double engine while bringing back the trapped workers in the lockdown?” wrote Lalu Prasad Yadav, the Rashtriya Janta Dal (RJD) chief, posted on Twitter on 2 November.
Lalu was responding to a comment by PM Narendra Modi who is campaigning for his party’s alliance in Bihar in spite of rising COVID-19 cases, a broken economy and the Indian armed forces facing Chinese in harsh cold conditions after they occupied a large tract of Indian territory in Ladakh. Lalu is the only politician who can outclass PM Modi in rhetoric.
PM Modi addressing a rally in Lalu’s bastion Chapra yesterday claimed: “NDA’s double-engine government is committed to the development, but ‘double-double Yuvraj’ are only concerned about protecting their respective thrones.” PM Modi was referring to Lalu Yadav’s son Tejashwi Yadav and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
“The price of onion has been increased to Rs 100 a kg. The price of oil is about to hit a century, the unemployment rate has reached half a century. Increasing inflation, falling employment. These double engine government Will Bihar make self-reliant?,” retorted Lalu on Twitter.
This is not the first time Lalu has turned the perception table on PM Modi. In 2015 assembly elections, Lalu had mimicked and mocked PM Modi’s economic package for Bihar. Lalu’s relentless mocking of PM Modi’s ‘ache din’ and ‘Rs 15 Lakhs to every account’ promises had won his party and alliance the 2015 assembly elections.
Lalu Yadav who is in jail for corruption cases is scheduled to get bail on November 9, two days after final polling for Bihar assembly elections 2020. On October 9, Lalu had obtained bail from the Jharkhand High Court in a fodder scam case related to fraudulent withdrawals amounting to ₹ 33.67 crores from the Chaibasa treasury. Lalu is currently in jail for another case.