`We`re tikaau, not bikaau`: Tejashwi Yadav calls Nitish Kumar`s `return to family` in Bihar `slap to BJP`

`Who do they want to scare? We, the people of Bihar, are not going to be scared. I have said `Bihari bikaau nahi, tikaau hota hai` (People of Bihar cannot be bought out, they are reliable),` Tejashwi Yadav said.

New Delhi: Bihar's newly appointed Deputy Chief Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav on Friday (August 12, 2022) met Congress president Sonia Gandhi and some other Opposition leaders in New Delhi and reportedly discussed the prevailing political situation in the country and his state. 

While talking to the reporters in the national capital, the Deputy Chief Minister said that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's decision to form the Mahagathbandhan government was a "slap on the BJP's face" and a similar coming together of Opposition parties will be replicated across the country. 

The Rashtriya Janata Dal leader accused the BJP of working to finish regional parties and asserted that if they are finished, the Opposition and democracy will be finished as well.

Tejahswi Yadav said Lalu Prasad fought against communal forces and social justice. He also accused the BJP of destroying regional parties, citing the happenings in Maharashtra and Jharkhand.

"BJP wants to scare those who get scared and buy those who are willing to be bought out," Yadav alleged.

"Constitutional institutions are being destroyed. Be it Enforcement Directorate, Central Bureau of Investigation or Income Tax (Department), their condition is worse than police stations. Who do they want to scare? We, the people of Bihar, are not going to be scared. I have said 'Bihari bikaau nahi, tikaau hota hai' (People of Bihar cannot be bought out, they are reliable)," he said.

They (Biharis) will never compromise with their self-respect, Yadav said, adding Bihar and Nitish Kumar have shown this. Alleging that the BJP wants to destroy regional parties, he said, regional parties are mostly of backwards and Dalits and the BJP wants to finish such parties.

"You wanted to finish Nitish Kumar, you created division in Ram Vilas Paswan ji's party. If regional parties are finished, Opposition will be finished, democracy will be finished. If democracy is finished, the country will be run in a dictatorial manner," he said.