Religious Twist to Bihar Election Campaigning, Modi, BJP Brands “Mahagathbandhan” as Anti-Hindu

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, Nov 3: The Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP has finally managed to give the election campaigning in Bihar a religious twist by framing the opposition “Mahagathbandhan” of the Congress, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and other allies as “anti-Hindu.”

Picking up some video where the former chief minister and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav is seen enjoying his grandchildren celebrating Halloween at home, Mr Modi and the Union Home Minister Amit Shah in public rallies in Bihar on Monday launched a sharp attack accusing the “Mahagathbandhan” leaders of disrespecting Hindu festivals and prioritising Western culture and “infiltrators.”

Even though Lalu Prasad Yadav remained mostly in the background after his political career got a setback due to corruption cases and health issues, for the NDA and the BJP leaders he is still the prime soft target to attack over his alleged “past sins.”

The BJP leaders juxtaposed an alleged insult to the traditional Chhath festival with RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav’s family celebrating Halloween. The visuals, shared by his daughter Rohini Acharya, showed the children dressed in costumes, including one as a Grim Reaper, while Yadav laughed with them.

The BJP immediately highlighted Lalu Yadav’s remark from February that the Kumbh pomp was “meaningless” (“faltu”). The BJP’s farmers’ wing wrote on X: “Don’t forget, people of Bihar, this is the same Lalu Yadav who called the grand festival of faith and spirituality Kumbh useless, and is now celebrating the foreign festival Halloween.”

This line of attack intensified with Amit Shah explicitly linking the RJD-Congress combine to an insult against Chhath festival, which is prominent in Bihar and was celebrated just days ago. At a rally in Shivhar, Shah said, “Rahul Gandhi has just insulted Chhathi Maiya (mother deity).” He was referring to Gandhi’s claim that PM Modi got a clean pond created for himself next to the polluted Yamuna in BJP-ruled Delhi to “do drama” on Chhath. “This time, along with Modi, you have insulted Chhathi Maiya,” Shah said.

Prime Minister Modi also weighed in, accusing the RJD-Congress combine of being disdainful towards Chhath Puja, “while opposing the Ram temple at Ayodhya” and being soft on “infiltrators.” Speaking in an area with significant Muslim population, Modi did not allege a communal angle directly but said that the Mahagathbandhan parties were “compromising national security” and had “jumped in to protect infiltrators” whenever the BJP took steps to oust them.

In response to the BJP’s frequent allegations on the opposition leaders of “insulting” Modi and others, the Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra mocked the BJP and the Prime Minister advising him to create a new ministry, the “Apamaan Mantralaya,” a ministry to exclusively deal with “insults.”

Addressing rallies in Saharsa and Lakhisarai districts, she accused Modi of diverting public attention from critical issues like unemployment, corruption, and poverty by constantly targeting his opponents.

“Instead of talking about development, the PM keeps accusing every opposition leader of insulting the country. He should form a new ministry, ‘Apamaan Mantralaya’, because that’s what his government seems most focused on,” she remarked.

She said whenever the public asks the PM a question, he either ignores it or “starts crying that everyone is insulting him.” She stressed that he should instead answer the people of Bihar regarding the alleged misrule under the NDA government over the past two decades in the states.

Meanwhile, the DMK president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, on Monday dared Mr Modi to come to the State and make the same “divisive remarks” he had made against Tamil Nadu during his recent campaign in Bihar.

Mr Stalin was attending the wedding ceremony of the son of DMK MP A. Mani when he commented on Mr Modi’s remarks during his election campaign in Bihar that “hardworking Biharis were being attacked in Tamil Nadu [Modi accused DMK cadre of harassing Bihar workers].

Pointing out that there had been no incidents of targeted violence against migrant workers in his State, Mr Stalin said, “This is the State of fraternity and brotherhood that nurtures those who come. Yet, Modi forgot he was the Prime Minister for all and spread falsehoods in Bihar. I dare him to come here and make the same speech here.”

Earlier also Mr Stalin had condemned Mr Modi’s remarks aimed at “inciting enmity between Tamils and the people of Bihar.” In a social media post he had shared a video clip in which Mr Modi was heard alleging that DMK members in Tamil Nadu were harming people from Bihar.

“I am pained as a Tamil, and request Mr Modi not to forget that he is the Prime Minister of this country every now and then, and that he should not lose the dignity the post holds through such speeches,” Mr Stalin said. As the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Mr Stalin said, he was condemning the BJP for “spewing hatred against Tamils,” whether in Odisha or in Bihar.

Mr Stalin said the Prime Minister and “those from the BJP” must stop engaging in “cheap” political acts that create hatred between Hindus and Muslims and foster enmity between Tamils and the people of Bihar in a diverse country that has always stood united in its diversity. Instead, they must on the welfare of the country, he had said.

Mr Stalin said, “The BJP is desperate to get a foothold in Tamil Nadu and that desperation showed in Modi’s hate.” However, he believed, in 2026, DMK would retain power. He said the 2021 Assembly polls were meant to “rescue Tamil Nadu from the slavery of AIADMK,” and the 2026 elections were about the need to “rescue the State from the sinister alliance of AIADMK-BJP.”

He also claimed that “fear of the BJP” stopped AIADMK leader Edappadi K. Palaniswami from opposing the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. He dubbed the AIADMK leader as “doubled-faced” about his stand on the SIR.