Patna: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday asserted that the “insult” of Babasaheb Ambedkar by RJD president Lalu Prasad was “no small error” and showed a “mindset of disrespect for Dalits”.
The former BJP president made the remark at the party’s state executive meeting here, which was held barely a couple of months ahead of the assembly polls in Bihar.
“Lalu Prasad had a portrait of Babasaheb Ambedkar placed at his feet. This was no small error but reflective of a mindset of disrespect for Dalits… Bihar has been cheated by people who hide their feudal attitude under the cloak of socialism,” Singh said.
The former Bihar chief minister has been drawing flak over a video clip in which a portrait of Ambedkar was seen close to his feet when people were visiting his residence to greet him on his 78th birthday.
At a rally in Siwan district last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tore into the RJD supremo, asserting he will “never be forgiven by the people of Bihar and the country”, even as the party insisted that the portrait was being held by a supporter and blamed “camera angle” for the confusion.
Earlier, before the meeting had started, Bihar BJP president Dilip Jaiswal had told reporters that a resolution condemning the RJD supremo will be passed at the state executive.
Singh, who as the chief guest delivered a speech that was more than an hour long, also charged Prasad with “duplicity” by claiming to be a disciple of Karpoori Thakur “but using abusive language against the OBC icon while in private”.
“I am not making this up. All this has been mentioned in detail by veteran journalist Sankarshan Thakur in his book ‘Brothers Bihari’,” claimed Singh.
“While Lalu Prasad was in power, he never bothered to do anything in the memory of Karpoori Thakur. It was Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who conferred Bharat Ratna on this great son of Bihar,” the Union minister pointed out.
The BJP leader said, “We keep talking about the past so that the younger generation does not get fooled by the glib talk of the RJD-Congress combine. They need to be told how the lantern (RJD’s poll symbol) had set homes on fire instead of dispelling darkness.” He also claimed that Bihar has made “unprecedented success” in the last couple of decades during which the state was ruled by NDA, led by Chief Minister and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar.
“The period did not just see economic growth. Bihar also began regaining its lost glory. The international journal ‘The Economist’, which had once called Bihar the armpit of India, had to later take note of its turnaround story,” Singh added.
