Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has attacked Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. On Friday, he was depicted as an RSS worker in a social media post on his support for the Waqf Amendment Bill passed by Parliament. The RJD attacked the attack when JD (U) has resigned by five party leaders in the election year after its support for the bill.
Nitish Kumar is shown wearing RSS’s trademark white shirt and khaki shorts in a photoshopped photo shared by RJD on the social site X. Bihar’s opposition party captioned the picture: ‘RSS-Prime Minister Cheetiish Kumar’ has written.
Through the post, RJD is trying to show that the JD (U) was influenced by the ideology of the main RSS, by supporting the BJP on the bill, taking a sarcasm on the secular credit of Nitish Kumar.
RJD tightens Nitish Kumar
Due to the passage of the Waqf Bill, there has been dissatisfaction among the Muslim leaders of JD (U). This bill has been insisted on increasing the role of the government in regulation of Waqf properties and disputes related to them.
The support of 12 and 16 MPs of JD (U) and TDP in the Lok Sabha was important in the passage of the Waqf Bill respectively. So far, five leaders have resigned from the party in protest. These include Mohammad Qasim Ansari, Mohammad Shahnawaz Malik and Mohammad Tabrej Siddiqui.
However, JD (U) national spokesperson Rajiv Ranjan Prasad said that neither Qasim Ansari nor Shahnawaz Malik are part of “our workers”.
Muslim leaders protested against Waqf Bill
Many Muslim leaders have also publicly expressed dissatisfaction over Nitish’s support for the bill. Those who criticized his stance include senior leader Ghulam Gaus and former Rajya Sabha MP Ghulam Rasul Balliavi.
Some Muslim leaders of Bihar have also indicated that they will challenge the Waqf Bill in the Supreme Court. Muslims hold about 17% of the population of Bihar and JD (U) traditionally has the support of this community. Assembly elections are due in Bihar in November this year. In such a situation, RJD has started attacking BJP and Nitish Kumar strongly on the Waqf Amendment Act.