As opposition events supported youth protests at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar and demanded schooling minister Dharmendra Pradhan, one opposition chief was conspicuous by his absence. Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) Nationwide Working Chairman Tejashwi Yadav.
Aside from a publish on X on July 16 by which he known as on activist Sonam Wangchuk to name off his starvation strike, Tejashwi has remained silent on the protests which have seen leaders together with Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Akhilesh Yadav take to the streets. of Protests erupted in Bihar On Thursday, police charged youths with lathi in Katihar, Darbhanga and Begusarai. A day earlier, police fired tear gasoline and used batons in opposition to demonstrators in Patna.
Pricey Mr. Sonam Wangchuck,
Please postpone your quick till you die. There’s little hope of understanding an ethical wrestle or actual dialogue with this insensitive authorities.
We pledge to all of the younger individuals standing behind you that we’ll elevate the difficulty of schooling and all corrupt methods from the streets to parliament. Jay Hind!
— Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) July 16, 2026
The absence of Bihar’s Chief of Opposition (LoP) has additionally been observed in Parliament, the place Agriculture Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha on Thursday requested Speaker Prem Kumar to “find” the LoP and “inform the Home”. Some RJD leaders defended their chief, saying Tejashwi was in Delhi caring for his ailing father and celebration nationwide president Lalu Prasad, whereas others stated Tejashwi was in Europe and would return to Delhi on Friday.
This isn’t the primary time Mr Tejashwi has been accused of committing a “disappearance” act. Over the previous six years, the RJD chief had left Patna greater than six occasions throughout necessary political developments that justified his presence and intervention.
Opposition events felt his absence from the monsoon parliament, which adjourns on Friday. Samrat Chaudhary’s authorities ran the short-lived assembly easily regardless of urgent issues about an “empty treasury”. The federal government confronted nearly no opposition or questions on any of the 12 payments launched, together with the Non-public Universities Invoice.
“The state authorities was additionally planning to carry a invoice to separate the colleges and state universities. Ideally, we must always have raised our voice in opposition to it. However the authorities withdrew the proposed invoice on the final minute solely due to resistance inside the NDA. If Tejashwi ji had been in Patna, we’d have given a stronger efficiency in and outdoors Parliament,” stated the RJD MLA.
“One in all our most vocal spokesmen Mrithinjay Tiwari give up the celebration in Tejashwi’s absence. We additionally lack actual management to marketing campaign for candidates within the upcoming Bankipur municipal polls, despite the fact that our celebration completed runner-up within the final two elections. “NDA has persistently weaponized Tejashwi’s sabbatical and questioned his dedication as president,” stated one other celebration MLA.
Different examples of Mr Tejashwi’s absence from key moments for the celebration embody:
December 2025 – January 2026: Subsequent, Bihar Meeting to carry polls in November 2025the newly elected parliament convened for its first winter session in early December. Tejashwi, who attended the opening day on December 1, left Patna the following day for a month-long household journey to Europe and wouldn’t return till mid-January 2026. The BJP-led NDA has launched a ‘raapata’ (lacking) marketing campaign in opposition to the LoP on social media, mocking his choice to take a sabbatical instantly after the election defeat. After returning to the nation, Tejashwi claimed to be monitoring nationwide affairs remotely and taking a break from lively commentary.
December 2024: After briefly attending the primary day of the winter session, Tejashwi left for New Delhi and was absent from the remainder of the session. NDA ministers have at all times questioned how the LoP can bypass a full of life debate by focusing on vacant seats within the Lok Sabha.
June-July 2024: Tejashwi launched into a 10-day abroad journey following the Lok Sabha election outcomes by which the RJD received solely 4 out of 40 seats in Bihar. Attributable to journey schedules, the celebration needed to postpone its thirtieth Nationwide Day celebrations to July 1, whereas Tejashwi addressed celebration leaders nearly from overseas on July 5. Later, Tejashwi was absent on the opening day of the monsoon session. BJP and JD(U) leaders focused the RJD over his absence, sarcastically asking whether or not he was “mediating world conflicts” whereas leaving nationwide points unresolved.
March 2021: The Bihar Particular Armed Police Invoice, 2021 was handed in Parliament amid chaos and bodily altercations between the police and opposition MLAs. A number of RJD MLAs have been hospitalized. Nevertheless, quickly after the Home was adjourned, Tejashwi left for New Delhi and remained within the capital whereas the celebration grappled with the political fallout. Ruling alliance leaders accused Tejashwi of inciting protests on the ground of parliament and leaving authorized and political penalties to the chief alone.
December 2019 – January 2020: The RJD has deliberate a collection of rallies throughout Bihar, ranging from West Champaran, in protest in opposition to the Citizenship Modification Act (CAA) and the proposed Nationwide Register of Residents (NRC). After main a rally in Patna on December 21, Tejashwi was off the grid At its peak, the train lasted almost three weeks. His sudden absence left coalition companions, together with Congress, with out a clear and coordinated technique on the bottom.
September-October 2019: Torrential rains induced extreme flooding throughout Patna, leaving whole residential areas submerged and stranded with out electrical energy or clear water for greater than every week. Tejashwi was out of state throughout the disaster. First he attended a seminar in Goa after which visited Rewari in Haryana for a household perform. Leaders like Pappu Yadav, who posted criticism of the federal government on social media however had no political affiliation on the time, received widespread public reward for bodily strolling by means of floodwaters to distribute aid provides. It was in stark distinction to Tejashwi’s absence.
BJP deputy chief Santosh Pathak stated the NDA’s criticism of Tejashwi targeted on framing him as a “part-time politician or a pacesetter who works from dwelling”.
RJD nationwide spokesperson Subodh Kumar Mehta defended the LoP, saying, “It’s typical of the NDA to focus on people for their very own failures and search for scapegoats.” “Our chief Tejashwi Prasad Yadav is touring overseas for each legislative and private causes,” Mehta stated. indian specific. “As an alternative of questioning his absence from Patna, the NDA ought to reply why the exchequer has been depleted and why college students are taking to the streets. As a political celebration, we’re elevating our issues at each professional discussion board. Focusing on people is a weak technique of the NDA.”
Mehta dismissed claims that the celebration was silent on the scholar motion. “Our scholar physique is working with college college students and on Sunday Sudhakar Singh and I together with RJD cadres shall be collaborating in a dharna with college students at Gurdani Bagh. RJD MPs and cadres have been there to help scholar points on the India Bloc sit-in exterior the Prime Minister’s residence. RJD was additionally collaborating within the Jantar Mantar protests and our accounts on X and Fb frequently publish in regards to the protests.”
The RJD spokesperson additional stated, “The parliamentary system is functioning as an establishment. RJD is functioning as an organizational construction and never simply a person voice. We’ve a whip system that we’ve got to observe and we’ve got a celebration line no matter which chief is sitting within the Home. The celebration can’t reply questions in regards to the NEET scholar motion, farmers’ apathy, unemployment and non-payment of 11 months of salaries of staff, particularly Anganwadi sisters.The issue of rampant corruption and crime is uncontrolled.That’s the reason the ruling celebration is the ruling celebration. I would like Tejashwi ji. ”
