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Having enjoyed the BJP’s discomfiture over RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s remarks on caste-based reservations, the Grand Alliance in Bihar is now on the backfoot over Lalu Prasad’s outburst on beef eating.
In the wake of lynching of a man in Uttar Pradesh, the Rashtriya Janata Dal chief had maintained that “even Hindus eat beef”, a remark that the BJP underlined as an insult to Yadavs, the community that Lalu belongs to. Yadavs, traditionally known as gwala s (keepers of cows), are being aggressively wooed by the BJP in the fiercely-fought Assembly polls in Bihar.
The BJP’s barbs hit home with Lalu and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar terming the lynching and beef-eating controversy as a “conspiracy” to polarise the electorate on communal lines.
“BJP has been rattled by the prospect of their defeat in Bihar. They are diverting attention to non-serious issues because they can’t match our vision with regard to development,” Lalu tweeted. “The rumour party is losing. They can’t find an issue to convince people and have fallen back on communal slogans,” he added. “They are the Kauravas of Mahabharat with all the resources that a ruling government has. We are the Pandavas with only Lord Krishna guiding us. But everyone knows who wins in the end.”
BJP President Amit Shah, who has been campaigning in Bihar, underlined Lalu’s remarks on beef and asked Kumar and Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi why they were “silent” on the RJD chief’s views on beef and asked them to respond openly on whether they endorse it or not. “Why are Nitish Kumar and Rahul Gandhi silent on Lalu Prasad’s comment that there is no difference between beef and goat meat...Silence will not do. They have to make public whether they agree with Prasad’s view or not,” Shah said addressing an election meeting backing BJP candidate Prem Ranjan Patel at Suryagraha in Lakhisarai district, about 125 km from Patna.
The BJP chief came down heavily on Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad, accusing them of keeping Bihar away from development in the last 25 years. Prasad had also courted controversy with his remarks that some Hindus too eat beef.
He blasted Kumar and Prasad for spreading “delusion” on the reservation issue in the wake of RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat’s comment on the need to review reservation. “As a BJP President who will know RSS better – me or Lalu Prasad or Nitish Kumar?...I have stated clearly that BJP does not belief in any kind of change in reservation for jobs,” Shah said.
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