The BJP has seized on RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav’s promise at a rally to throw the new waqf law into the “dustbin”, accusing him of resorting to “Namazvad” as it spies an opportunity to play the polarising card in poll-bound Bihar.
The BJP, eyeing to dominate the “samajvadi (socialist)” political landscape of the state, has also zeroed in on Tejashwi’s father and RJD chief, Lalu Prasad, to accuse him of “insulting” Dalit icon B.R. Ambedkar.
The pitch was set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at his Bihar rally last month, obliquely referring to a video of Ambedkar’s portrait being placed near Lalu’s feet on a table. Modi had accused the Congress and the RJD of “keeping Babasaheb’s picture at their feet”.
On Monday and Tuesday, the BJP organised media addresses in Delhi to attack Tejashwi for promising to throw the new waqf law into the dustbin if the RJD-led Mahagathbandhan was voted to power in Bihar.
“Parties like the RJD and the SP, which profess to be socialists, are not standing up for the rights of the poor and oppressed Muslims. It would not be an exaggeration to say that in their pursuit to appease their vote bank, they are resorting to ‘Namazvad’ and not ‘samajvad’,” BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi said on Monday.
The next day, BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia was fielded over the same issue. “In Bihar, those who claim to be ‘samajvadis’ have revealed their true identity as ‘Namazvadis’. These individuals neither accept nor respect the Constitution of Babasaheb Ambedkar,” Bhatia said, accusing the RJD of planning to implement the “Sharia law” if they come to power in Bihar.
Participating in a rally against the waqf law organised by the Patna-based Imarat-e-Sharia last Sunday, Tejashwi had promised to bin the contentious law if his government came to power in Bihar. The BJP accused the RJD leader of indirectly promising to throw Ambedkar’s Constitution into the “dustbin” since the new law was passed by Parliament.
The Muslim-Yadav combination forms the pivot of the principal Opposition RJD’s support in Bihar, and the BJP plans to use the new waqf law to pitch the polarising card. Party insiders feel that a sharp polarisation during the elections could even break a section of the loyal Yadav voters of the RJD.
Division in the dominant Yadav vote base is top on the agenda of the BJP. Party managers said that Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav would be used extensively to campaign in the Bihar polls to wean away a section of the community. Party managers said that creating cracks in the Yadav base was essential to weaken the RJD.
