MUNGER/BEGUSARAI, Oct 8:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today vigorously stirred Bihar’s electoral pot, launching a scalding attack on RJD chief Lalu Prasad for his “Hindus also eat beef” comments calling it an “insult” to “Yaduvanshis” and provoking accusations of attempting to communalise the polls.
Modi, whose silence on the Dadri beef lynching incident has been questioned by the opposition, repeatedly targeted Lalu over his remark, terming it as an insult to the “yaduvanshis” (yadava clan) as also Bihar.
“What all is he saying. What all Yadavs eat? Whatever position Lalu rose to, it was because of these Yaduvanshis and he insulted them. What kind of abuses you are hurling at them. Is it not an insult of Yadavs and Bihar? Do not humiliate the Yaduvanshis so much? Laluji, these Yaduvanshis helped you to come to power,” said Modi, addressing elections rallies in Munger, Begusarai and Samastipur.
He also trashed Lalu’s explanation that he made the beef remark under the influence of “shaitan” (devil).
“I wonder the devil got only his (Lalu) body to enter. I want to know how the shaitan got the address (of Lalu). The devil got no other body in entire Bihar, India and the whole world except that of his. And he also welcomed the devil as if some relative has come,” Modi said.
Modi’s repeated reference to Lalu’s beef remark drew a sharp reaction from Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who termed it as “a brazen attempt to add communal texture to the polls”.
“The real Modi on display — brazen attempt to add communal texture to Bihar polls, but deafening silence on deplorable incident of Dadri,” Kumar tweeted.
In another tweet, Kumar said it was for all to see “why Vajpayee ji was forced to remind him (Modi) to follow Raj Dharma, but wonder who will do the Vajpayee today ?”
Kumar was referring to the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s words during his visit to a relief camp after the 2002 communal riots in Gujarat when Modi was the Chief Minister.
The RJD chief, who had made the controversial remark in the aftermath of the Dadri lynching, made a quick about turn, saying his tongue seemed to have been possessed by the devil in a moment of weakness.
The Prime Minister’s attack on the RJD supremo followed the latter’s attempts at consolidating his backward class support base after RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s call for a review of the reservation policy. Lalu was quick to latch on to Bhagwat’s comments to claim that the Modi government was planning to scrap quotas. Despite the government and BJP quickly distancing from the RSS chief’s views, both Lalu and Nitish had claimed a move to do away with reservations was afoot.
Reservation has a sensitive issue in post-Mandal Bihar and helped Lalu rally behind him the vast backward class population during RJD’s 15-year unbroken stint in power before Nitish Kumar, backed by BJP, assumed the state’s reins. Lalu’s beef remarks came as a welcome relief to the BJP-led alliance as Modi sought to turn tables on the rival JD(U)-RJD-Congress coalition over an equally emotive and sensitive issue in the cow belt.
Referring to Dwarka connection of Lord Krishna in Gujarat, Modi projected Lalu as a leader who does not honour “true Yaduvanshi tradition” and alleged that he not only insulted them but everybody in Bihar.
“I come from the land of Gujarat. Dwarka is the land of Lord Krishna where people worship cows. They brought white revolution. As as far the question of following the true Yaduvanshi tradition is concerned, it being done there. And here the leaders are meting out this kind of insult to Yaduvanshis. What kind of abuses he is heaping on them? Modi said. (PTI)
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