Tejashwi Yadav interview: ‘Intimidation of Oppn serious matter…We have got a lot of support from people who want us to fight back politically, legally’

With barely ten days to go for the Lok Sabha polls, Bihar’s Leader of Opposition and ex-deputy chief minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, 34, has stepped up his campaigning. Spearheading the RJD’s charge, Tejashwi has also emerged as the face of the Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) in the crucial battleground state. In an interview withThe Indian Express, Tejashwi speaks on several burning issues, ranging from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s onslaught over corruption and dynasty politics to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s poll pitch, to the Opposition’s challenges. Excerpts:

The primary narrative is listening to the people and being responsive to their basic needs and future aspirations. I have been to almost all parts of the state this year, and everybody I met told me they feel unheard, neglected, and disrespected. The entire point of being a democracy is that it’s a representative rule of the people, and if the people are feeling disappointed, then something has gone wrong somewhere. Prime Minister Modi and the kind of governance he favours do not have any place for dialogue. He speaks about himself in the third person….

I find it very strange when the PM keeps announcing from the stage that the ‘people of India have decided this’ or the ‘people of India have decided that’. My point is to let the people of India decide – why so much nervousness? The Opposition’s blueprint is to stop the slide in the democratic structure and values of the country. That is our central issue. We want to put the people back in the position of power, instead of billionaires or ideological handlers who lurk in the shadows.

It points to centralisation of power in the NDA. There’s one leader, and the rest are willing or unwilling followers. Lok Sabha