The birth anniversary ceremony of Bhakti Movement saint Ravidas took political colours on Sunday when chief minister Nitish Kumar and RJD chief Lalu Prasad used the occasion to attack the BJP over recent developments in the country.

With most of the people in the audience belonging to the Ravidas community, slogans reverberated in the Rabindra Bhavan auditorium. Nitish started his speech by accusing the BJP-led Union government of misleading the country over Hyderabad scholar Rohith Vemula's suicide.

Ravidas community members are cobblers by caste who belong to the Scheduled Castes and constitute around 4 per cent of the state's population.

"Smriti Irani lied in Parliament. Even the Prime Minister praised her. Now facts have come to the fore exposing the BJP design," Nitish said amid thunderous applause.

The chief minister did not stop there. Visibly happy over the response of the crowd, the Bihar chief minister virtually questioned the BJP's claim to patriotism.

"What role did they play in freedom struggle? They talk of the Tricolour but would they tell that what role they had in making of the national flag?" Nitish said and then went on to speak at length about Dalit icon BR Ambedkar's role in drafting the Constitution.

Having vented his ire against the BJP, Nitish then chose to play to the gallery and announced that from next year the birthday of saint Ravidas would be a full holiday in Bihar. Till now, it featured in the list of restricted holidays.

A total of 22 such restricted holidays are available to state government employees of which an individual can avail a maximum of any three.

With the holiday announcement, Nitish had virtually prepared the ground for Lalu, the last speaker in the programme, to launch an even more vociferous attack on the RSS-BJP combine.

Lalu, in signature style, upped the ante against the BJP and accused the party of having no faith in the Constitution.

The RJD chief termed the BJP claim to patriotism a "sham" and claimed that the BJP's patriotic pretensions were for clinging to power at any cost.

Lalu also brought smiles to the audience by touching some non-serious issues during his speech.

"Nitish ji had to go to take part in a police function but I specifically requested him not to leave the venue before my speech is over else the media would start cooking up imaginary stories," Lalu said.

Even Nitish, who was seated on the dais, burst out laughing.

The chief minister was really in hurry. As soon as the RJD chief finished his speech, Nitish stood up to leave.