Bihar BJP president CP Thakur at the meet in Patna on Wednesday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh

Patna, April 27: The Bihar wing of the BJP seems to have developed a trend to celebrate birth anniversaries of national heroes. But the party denied any politics behind organising them.

After Sant Ravi Das, Mahatma Phule, Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, Veer Kuer Singh, now it’s the BJP’s turn to celebrate the birth anniversary of Baba Chauharmal, a Dalit saint and Paswan by caste, to garner the support of the Dalit community.

The party will celebrate Baba Chauharmal’s birth anniversary at SK Memorial Hall on April 29 and the event is likely to be attended by party leaders from Delhi.

The saint, who belonged to the Mushar community, is very popular among the Dalit community and emerged as a messiah for them. There is also temple in his name in Mokama and every year a fair is organised there.

Several top politicians attend the fair after Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan started the trend to attend it to garner support of the Mushar community. RJD chief Lalu Prasad and chief minister Nitish Kumar later followed. Last year, during a Dalit conference in Patna to mark the birth anniversary of Baba Chauharmal, Nitish had also declared to distribute three decimals of plot to landless Paswans.

Could the BJP be left far behind?

Asked about the reason to celebrate Baba Chauharmal’s birth anniversary, Bihar BJP president C.P. Thakur said: “We shall always remember the great men who have done something for the society. It inspires new thought among the people. This is nothing new that is happening. People have been celebrating Baba Chauharmal’s birth anniversary at a small level but this would be the first time that the BJP would do it on a larger scale.”

Thakur, however, denied any political motive behind the celebrations. He said: “Don’t assume that there is any political significance behind it. We are doing it because there is a need to remember these people.”

Clarifying his stand, Thakur added: “Recently, we celebrated the Vijayutsav of Veer Kuer Singh not because he was a Rajput but because he thought about people of every caste. To say that the party is doing it for any political motive is wrong.”