Amit Shah(L) and Lalu Prasad Yadav
Credit: PTI File Photo
Patna: A day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah's taunt that Waqf (Amendment) Bill "fulfilled the wishes of RJD president Lalu Prasad", the former Bihar CM on Thursday came out with a riposte.
Shah made the remark in Lok Sabha, referring to a speech by Prasad in 2013, when the latter was a member of the House, and had called for "more stringent" amendments to the Waqf introduced by the Congress-led UPA government, of which the RJD was a part.
Prasad shared a short video clip of the speech on his X handle, lambasting "ignorant fools of BJP and Sangh", but avoiding mention of Shah or any other leader by name.
"I had stood for a stringent law for protecting Waqf land, which you are trying to grab", wrote the RJD supremo who last week attended a 'dharna' staged by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board in protest against the Waqf (Amendment) Bill.
Prasad, who prides himself on having stopped the Ayodhya Rath Yatra in its tracks with the arrest of Lal Krishna Advani in 1990, when he was the Bihar CM, said, "I regret not being in Parliament at a time when rights of Muslims, other minorities, and the poor in general, and the Constitution itself are under attack. I would have taken on these people alone (akela hi kaafi tha)".
The septuagenarian, who is undergoing treatment at AIIMS, New Delhi, has been convicted in a number of fodder scam cases, which has also left him debarred from contesting elections.
The RJD supremo added, with a hint of sarcasm, "I was glad to see myself in your thoughts and your anxieties despite not being a member of the House. Ideological commitment is all that I have earned in my life".
The Waqf (Amendment) Bill issue is expected to have some impact on the assembly polls in Bihar, due later this year, in which the Mahagathbandhan helmed by RJD will take on BJP-led NDA, which has been ruling the state for two decades.
The JD(U), headed by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, an arch rival of the RJD supremo, has always depended on a slice of Muslim votes, despite being a BJP ally.
However, the party's stance on Waqf Bill seems to have led to a turmoil, with more than one Muslim leaders of the party coming out in the open to express their anxieties.
"The Bill has been passed and all members stood exposed. It has become clear that there is no difference left between those who claim to be secular and those who are regarded as openly communal", alleged JD(U) national general secretary Ghulam Rasool Baliyawi.
In a video message, the former MLC urged his community to "think rationally and not give in to emotions" until "we get a copy of the Bill passed by Parliament to fight the matter legally, from High Courts across the country to the Supreme Court".
Bihar Shia Waqf Board Chairman Syed Afzal Abbas, who is also associated with the JD(U), said, "While some of our suggestions were incorporated in the Waqf Bill, others have been ignored. Had the Union government shown less haste and more thoughtfulness, no scope would have been left for Baliyawi sahib and his ilk to express anger".