Yashwant Sinha severs ties with BJP, says Indian democracy is in danger

Former Union minister Yashwant Sinha, who has been a vocal critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government at the Centre, announced on Saturday that he will end his long-time ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Stressing that “democracy is in danger”, Sinha said in Patna he will launch a movement for “the restoration of democracy as it is vital for the country, its people and their freedom”.

“I am taking sanyas (retiring) from party politics.I am not going to be a member of any other political party,” Sinha, whose son Jayant Sinha is the Union minister of state for civil aviation, said at a meeting of a group he launched earlier this year.

Sinha had in the recent past launched a tirade against the Centre, especially its economic policies, after the government’s November 2016 move to scrap old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 banknotes.

In January, Sinha and BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha, another detractor of the Modi government, launched the Rashtra Manch, which saw the participation of a number of politicians.

Its Saturday meeting was attended by RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, Congress leader Renuka Choudhary and AAP leaders Sanjay Singh and Ashutosh alongside Sinha and Shatrughan Sinha.