The communalism bogey looked ready to enter Bihar’s election campaigns in a big way after Congress in-charge for the state and Union minister Mukul Wasnik on Sunday chastised chief minister Nitish Kumar for indulging in “fake secularism” despite having BJP leaders who participated in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and helped fell the Babri Masjid as ministers. Mr Wasnik, the AICC general secretary and Union minister for social justice and empowerment, attacked the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U)-BJP government for its “numerous lies” at a public meeting of the Congress in Gaya.
“Nitish Kumar’s shows of fake secularism are known to everyone in Bihar. He has in his Cabinet as ministers people like Janardan Sigriwal and Ashwini Chaubey and others who had taken part in the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and helped fell the Babri Masjid,” said Mr Wasnik. The BJP, evidently angered by Mr Wasnik’s comments, reacted sharply while the JD(U) chose to keep quiet for the time being. “Mukul Wasnik is a political novice in Bihar and his statements show extreme immaturity due to their context and his obvious intentions. The Congress believes in dividing society to rule, but Mr Wasnik’s efforts will come a cropper in Bihar,” said Bihar BJP’s vice-president and spokesman Sanjay Mayukh to this newspaper.
With Mehboob Ali Kaiser as the Congress chief in Bihar, the party has been trying to mobilise the votes of mainly the Muslims and the dalits in the state for the Assembly polls.
Mr Kaiser and Mr Wasnik were appointed in their Bihar charges in June. AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi, in his two public addresses on Saturday, had also attacked Nitish Kumar for claiming to be secular despite being in alliance with the BJP.
Since Mr Kumar’s bitter opposition to his photographs published in the BJP’s newspaper advertisements showing him with Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi in June, the JD(U)-BJP alliance has been facing increased political attacks for indulging in “fake shows of secularism”. The issue of communalism is likely to dominate the campaigns for the Assembly polls.