'Thakur' row: Tejashwi Yadav defends Manoj Jha

Yadav came down heavily on statements of some BJP MLAs against Jha, who is in the eye of a storm over his speech during the debate on Women's Reservation Bill last week.

Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday dismissed allegations that 'Thakurs' (brahmins) were insulted by his close confidant Manoj Jha in Rajya Sabha recently.

RJD has a greater affinity with Thakurs compared to the supposedly pro-upper caste BJP, he told reporters here defending Jha upon his return from Delhi.

Yadav also came down heavily on statements of some BJP MLAs against Jha, who is in the eye of a storm over his speech during the debate on Women's Reservation Bill last week. The RJD MP and national spokesman had made a case for separate quotas for women from the weaker sections of the society.

'We have more Rajputs (the term by which Thakurs are known in Bihar) among our members in both Houses of the state legislature than the BJP. We count among our icons former prime minister V P Singh. The founding fathers of RJD included late Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, who introduced MREGA during his stint as union minister. No other party has had such a legacy', said Yadav.

Jha had recited a verse composed by dalit writer Om Prakash Valmiki in Rajya Sabha titled 'Thakur Ka Kuan' (the Thakur's well) and said 'We all have a Thakur within ourselves whom we must get rid of '.

The rhetoric led to a backlash in caste conscious Bihar, where many Thakur political leaders allege that Jha, a Brahmin, had deliberately targeted the community.

The BJP had staged a protest earlier this week and burnt effigies of Yadav and his father RJD Lalu Prasad. It unsettled RJD leaders like young MLA Chetan Anand, who has gone public with his objections over Jha's speech.

Yadav, who is also the leader of the RJD in the state Assembly, said Anand should have raised his concerns in the party forum and not on social media. 'I will talk to him,' he added.

He called Jha a 'scholarly person who teaches in Delhi University and is a recipient of the Best Parliamentarian award' and lashed out at the BJP for 'twisting words out of context'.

'This (BJP's protests) is just like they had done in my case when during the 2020 assembly polls I had blamed babus (bureaucracy) for corruption in Bihar,' Yadav said.

In Bihari colloquialism the term 'babu saheb' is often used to mean Rajputs.

Criticising statements by some BJP MLAs against Jha which had implicit threats of physical violence, Yadav said 'Had my party leaders indulged in such behaviour we would have pulled them up. But, the media seems to have a different set of standards for BJP.

'So many expletives were hurled inside Parliament by their MP Ramesh Bidhuri at BSP member Danish Ali. But we hardly see the type of outrage it should have evoked,' alleged the RJD leader, who is also a coordination committee member of INDIA coalition.