New Delhi: Another flashpoint has emerged between Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after Union Minister of Textiles Giriraj Singh proposed a four-day ‘Hindu swabhiman yatra’ in Bihar across five districts with a significant Muslim population.
Of late, JD(U), which is in an alliance with the BJP, has disagreed with the central government over its contentious Waqf (Amendment) Bill 2024 and advertisement for recruitment to lateral entry jobs bypassing reservations.
Now, JD(U) leaders are criticising Giriraj Singh’s proposal for the yatra, saying it will disturb the communal harmony in the state and seemed to be an attempt to engineer riots for political gains ahead of the 2025 assembly polls.
Known for his aggressive rhetoric, Giriraj Singh, however, has defended his proposal, saying the “yatra will bring about unity among Hindus” and “those who are raising objections now did not when (Rashtriya Janata Dal leader) Tejashwi Yadav had organised a yatra to consolidate Muslim voters”.
Tejashwi Yadav has been touring various districts in Bihar to connect with his party supporters ahead of the 2025 assembly polls.
‘Time has come for Sanatanis to unite’
Viewed as a prominent face of the Hindutva ideology, Giriraj Singh said that the ‘Hindu swabhiman yatra’ will unite Hindus, so that “they are not chopped off like Hindus in Bangladesh”.
“India will no longer tolerate the atrocities on Hindus living in Bangladesh. The day the incidents happened in Bangladesh, the thought came to my mind that now is the time to unite the Hindus,” the Union minister said. “Our ancestors made a mistake. If, at the time of partition, the entire Muslim population had gone to Pakistan, we would not have faced this situation today.”
“I have stressed many times that if Hindus do not remain united, they will face problems on the political front in the future. The time has come for Sanatanis to unite,” the Union minister added.
The yatra, he said, will start from Bhagalpur, where JD(U) leader Ajay Kumar Mandal is the MP. After a puja and havan on 18 October, the yatra will pass through Katihar, Purnia, and Araria, ending at Kishanganj. All five districts are part of the Seemanchal in Bihar and have a significant Muslim population.
In Katihar Lok Sabha constituency, JD(U) leader Dular Chandra Goswami lost against Congress leader Tariq Anwar. In Purnia, Independent Pappu Yadav defeated JD(U) candidate Santosh Kumar Kushwaha. Similarly, in Kishanganj, Congress leader Mohammad Jawed defeated JD(U) candidate Mujahid Alam. The BJP, however, holds the Araria Lok Sabha seat, which Pradeep Kumar Singh has won in 2009, 2019 and 2024.
Despite being allied with the BJP, JD(U) has termed Giriraj Singh and his yatra as divisive, which is in line with the party’s efforts to maintain a balance between its Hindu and Muslim vote bases, projecting Nitish Kumar as the ‘Vikas Purush’ of Bihar.
Giriraj Singh did not directly name JD(U) but criticised the party while pointing fingers at the RJD, saying, “When Tejashwi Yadav took out a yatra, no one had a stomach ache. When Prashant Kishore took out a yatra, no one had a stomach ache. Those people took out a yatra for votes. Some talked about uniting Muslims, while others tried to fulfil their political interests. But, we are going beyond these things and taking out a yatra to unite people.”
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‘BJP is trying to create a new issue to polarise voters’
Speaking to ThePrint, JD(U) general secretary Gulam Rasool Balyawi said, “The intention is clear — to incite communal tension and create a situation for riots in this country where 80 percent of the population are Hindus. From the prime minister to the home minister, all are from the Hindu community. How can Hindus in this country be insecure?”
“When a yatra is organised in the name of Hindu unity, the only motive that comes to mind is to create a situation for the minority community to feel insecure and create a disturbance in districts with a significant Muslim population,” he added.
JD(U) MLC Ghulam Ghous told ThePrint, “BJP’s jihad (charges) and NRC-CAA did not work. So, BJP is trying to create a new issue to polarise voters.”
“Everyone has a right to conduct programmes to expand their party, but it should not disturb the communal harmony in the state. In this country’s history, both Muslims and Hindus have sacrificed lives and struggled for freedom,” he said.
Speaking to ThePrint, JD(U) official spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said, “Nitish Kumar is known for development yatra. When the Bhagalpur riots happened, it was Nitish Kumar who rehabilitated people…. Whether minorities should get protection is stated in the Constituion. Is Giriraj ji not in line with the Constitution?”
The BJP has downplayed the yatra. Officially, the party is not part of the yatra. But other Hindu organisations are supporting it. “Hindu organisations support Giriraj ji yatra. It is for a good cause. Nobody should take it otherwise,” Jagannath Thakur, the general secretary of BJP in Bihar, said.
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‘Consolidation of Hindu voters by BJP-RSS’
It’s not that Giriraj Singh is taking a line different from the BJP-RSS line.
Delivering his annual Dussehra speech, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat also called for Hindu unity by raking up the attacks on Hindus in Bangladesh. “If we are weak, we are inviting atrocity. Wherever we are, we need to be united and empowered. And weakness is not an option,” he said.
On 5 October this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, echoing Yogi Adityanath’s phrase of ‘batenge to katenge‘, said at a rally in Thane, Maharashtra, “We have to take a lesson from history. We have to stay united. If we get divided, those who are dividing us will celebrate.”
On the same day, Mohan Bhagwat, in a speech in Rajasthan, called for unity among Hindus, keeping aside differences of language, caste and regional disputes, which he later reinforced in the Dussehra speech.
Weeks later, Modi, in a video speech for the launch of a development project in Maharashtra, said, “Not a single Congress leader has ever said there are so many castes among Muslims…but when it comes to Hindus, Congress talks on caste lines.”
“Congress wants to ignite fires in the Hindu community; it wants to pit one Hindu community against another,” he added.
According to a senior BJP leader, who wanted to remain anonymous, during Lok Sabha polls, the BJP’s tested strategy of Hindutva did not work and opposition parties had success fighting elections on lines of caste and Dalit identity, breaking apart the Hindutva identity.
“Since then, the BJP has been fighting to bring consolidation among castes to remain united and counter opposition. The BJP escaped defeat in Haryana due to Congress complacency by forging a non-Jat consolidation. But, it is not a sure-shot formula for victory in the long run,” the leader said.
“From Maharashtra to Jharkhand, we will be on our toes to win elections. So, RSS and the PM are concentrating on bringing back Hindutva consolidation. We are in an alliance in Bihar, but the BJP has lost many seats in the state. For the polls next year, BJP is trying to bring about the consolidation of Hindutva voters to fight back against the caste politics of different parties,” the leader added.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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