‘Prime Minister Modi’s balloon has burst’: Umar Khalid

Endorsing the controversial remarks of Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani that Prime Minister Modi should retire and go to Himalayas, JNU student leader Umar Khalid said on Tuesday that Narendra Modi must take most of the news anchors and their employers along with him as they too had become “boring and repetitive.”

Addressing Yuva Hunkaar Rally at Parliament Street in New Delhi, the JNU student leader said: “The myth around Modi is fading. The balloon of the Prime Minister Modi has burst. The credit goes to the youth, students, farmers, labourers and minorities who played the role of opposition, which was missing inside the Parliament.”

“We don't want hatred, we want jobs, peace and growth for the youth. Those who believe in Manuvadi school of thoughts don't have any space for Dalits. We will fight and avenge the death of Rohith Vemula,” he said, adding, “They are afraid of Chandrashekhar, not because he’s a threat to the country. But because he is threat to their idea of Hindu Rashtra-- where there is no space for Dalits and Manusmriti.”

Recalling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s statement that he made last year, “yada se jyada kya kar lenge. arey hum toh fakeer aadmi hai, jhola leke nikal lenge. (What can my opponents do to me? I am a fakir (hermit). I will exit with my little belongings), Umar said: “No, Prime Minister Modi. We won’t let you escape like that. Youth of the country will hold you accountable and seek answers.”

“Instead of invoking the National Security Act (NSA) against Dalit leader Chandrashekhar 'Ravan' Azad and branding people like him as anti-national, the government must take action against its ministers like Anant Kumar Hegde, who wants people to identify themselves with caste and religion and said that government intends to change the constitution,” he asserted.

Maintaining that a section of media is running hate campaign against him, Umar said: “Those youngsters who trust media propaganda against us won’t get anything except for high blood pressure.  They need to think about the promises of 2 crore jobs every year and fallout of bad government policies like GST and join us.”

Claiming that Modi government waived the Rs 72,000 crore bank loans of Adani group companies, he said: “the tax payers’ money which gets spent over loan waivers to corporates is called business incentives. But the same tax payers’ money when it comes to the expenditure on significant sectors like healthcare and education is called wasteful subsidies.”