‘Congress Must Die Not a Knee-Jerk Remark’: Yogendra Yadav

Yadav also referred to Congress as the “single biggest obstacle to the creation of an alternative.”

A day after Swaraj India chief Yogendra Yadav triggered a political row when he hit out strongly at the Congress, saying the party ‘must die’, he clarified on Monday, 20 May, that his remark was not an “off-the-cuff angry remark.”

With the exit polls on Sunday, 19 May, predicting a comfortable majority for Narendra Modi-led NDA government, Yadav said that the Congress represented the “biggest obstacle” to the creation of an alternative.

This tweet has triggered a debate.Many friends are upset.

Just to avoid misreading: this is not an off the cuff angry remark, no khundak against its leaders, not knee-jerk anti-Congressism.
I think Cong is now redundant for(is actually an obstacle to) defending the idea of India https://t.co/4xJh3gwopj

— Yogendra Yadav (@_YogendraYadav) May 20, 2019

The Congress must die.
If it could not stop the BJP in this election to save the idea of India, this party has no positive role in Indian history. Today it represents the single biggest obstacle to creation of an alternative.

My reaction to @sardesairajdeep https://t.co/IwlmBmf75d

— Yogendra Yadav (@_YogendraYadav) May 19, 2019

Later, he put out another tweet clarifying his stand on saying that Congress “has no positive role in Indian history”.

My expression "no positive role in Indian history" may have caused some confusion. I cannot possibly deny the great role of Congress before and immediately after independence.

What I meant was "no positive role left to perform in history anymore". Stand by that. https://t.co/4xJh3gwopj

— Yogendra Yadav (@_YogendraYadav) May 19, 2019

‘No Reliable Face in Opposition’

Speaking to The Quint, Yadav, who has also been a psephologist, said, “It is not the people’s trust on Modi, but the absence of a reliable face in the Opposition.”

“BJP has Modi, media, money and election machinery and Congress lacks both message and messenger”.

On predictions of the BJP winning lesser seats in Uttar Pradesh, Yadav said that “there was no question of winning 71 seats in UP. But the initial idea that the SP-BSP alliance would reduce the BJP to 10-12 seats in UP is clearly not happening.”