BJP terms JD(U) head's comment on caste of PM objectionable; Tejashwi says it's fine

The BJP on Saturday slammed JD(U) president Lalan Singh for using "highly objectionable and unparliamentary" words while alleging that Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014 claimed to be from an extremely backward class though Gujarat has no EBC category. While Singh refused to apologise for the comments he had made on Friday, RJD leader and Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Prasad Yadav asserted that the JD(U) head did the right thing by attacking the PM directly.

On Friday, Singh described the PM as 'Bahurupiya' (one who lives in many guises) and 'Dhongi' (who does not provide correct information) and asserted that Modi roamed around the country in 2014 claiming to be from an extremely backward class though there is no EBC category in Gujarat.

"There's no EBC in Gujarat, only OBC. He (Modi) didn't even belong to the OBC. When he became the Gujarat chief minister, he added his caste to the OBC list. He's a duplicate, not an original," the JD(U) leader had said.


Condemning Singh's remarks, senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "Whatever he (Singh) has said against the PM is highly objectionable and unparliamentary. Lalan Singh should not forget that he won the parliamentary election in 2019 only because of PM Modi."

Such statements are not acceptable at all, the former Union minister said.

Another senior BJP leader and Union minister of state for home affairs, Nityanand Rai, claimed that JD(U) leaders are anti-poor.

"They just cannot digest the fact that a person like Narendra Modi, who belonged to the marginalised section of society, became the Prime Minister of India," Rai said.

The JD(U) president was, however, strongly backed by its ally RJD, with Tejashwi Prasad Yadav saying that Lalan Singh had done nothing wrong in directly attacking the PM.

"He did the right thing by launching a direct attack on the PM," he told reporters who sought his comments on Singh's remark.

The JD(U) chief on Saturday defended his remarks on the PM's caste status and claimed he did not use any "unparliamentary language".

"What would you call someone who tries to mislead people by furnishing wrong information? What foul word did I use? Let me tell you that Bahurupiya and Dhongi are not unparliamentary words," Singh told reporters.