Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 21: After the RJD minster sparked off a controversy by adversely commenting on the “Ramchairtmanas,” a JD(U) leader has sparked off a controversy by threatening to “turn Indian cities into Karbala” if Prophet Muhammad was insulted. In both the cases, the advantage has been cornered by the BJP which has pounced on the fissures within the “Mahagathbandhan” ruling Bihar.
Days after the chief minister Nitish Kumar had to firefight the controversy sparked by the education minister claiming that some couplets of “Ramcharitmanas” spread hatred in the society, it was the turn of the deputy chief minister and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav to protect the coalition in the face of the BJP onslaught over the Karbala remarks.
Yadav on Saturday attempted to douse the stir created by ally JD(U)’s national general secretary Gulam Rasool Balyawi. “There’s no space for fundamentalism,” he said, when asked to comment on Mr Balyawi’s recent remark that Muslims will turn cities into “Karbala” if anyone tries to disrespect Prophet Muhammad.
Mr Balyawi was recently seen in a now viral video clip making a speech at the Karbala Maidan near Barhi town of Hazaribagh district in Jharkhand where he made the remark, drawing flak from opposition BJP. “If you disrespect Prophet Muhammad, right now we are gathered at the Karbala Maidan, we will turn cities into ‘Karbala’ for his honour,” he said while addressing a religious gathering of Muslims on Wednesday.
Karbala is a city in central Iraq, best known as the location of the Battle of Karbala in 680 AD, where it is believed that Prophet Muhammed’s grandson Imam Hussein, along with 72 followers and members of his family, were slaughtered in battle for the cause of Islam.
At the gathering, though Balyawi did not name anyone in his provocative speech in Jharkhand, it was evident that the JD(U) MLC was referring to remarks made by expelled BJP leader Nupur Sharma and said Muslims won’t tolerate the insult of their master. He also slammed so-called ‘secular’ political parties for not demanding an arrest of Nupur Sharma. “On the other hand, when our children came on roads to protest offensive comments against the Prophet (in Ranchi), they were shot dead,” he added.
Balyawi also demanded ‘Muslim Safety Act’ to protect the Muslim youth from being shot dead or labelled as terrorists. “At present, our children are being picked up and placed behind bars for 18-20 years after being labelled as terrorists. If our children protest, they are shot at. Muslim safety act should be brought for protection of Muslims’ rights,” the JD(U) MLC had said.
Commenting on his ‘Karbala’ statement, Balyawi while defending his remarks on “turning cities into Karbala,” explained on Saturday that “Karbala is to give away everything, sacrifice everything, but not let humanity and brotherhood be sacrificed, the JDU leader said in his defence.
On Tuesday, responding to media queries on Education Minister Chandrashekhar’s claim that the Ramcharitmanas, a poem based on the epic ‘Ramayana’, “spreads hatred in the society” and certain parts of it propagate discrimination again certain castes, Nitish Kumar had said the state government respects all religions and advocates for the freedom for all to follow any religion.
Mr Kumar’s reaction came after his party colleague, MLA Sanjeev Kumar, slammed ally RJD’s Chandrashekhar saying he should either apologise or give up Hinduism. Tejashwi Yadav, to project a united front and downplay tensions between leaders of the coalition partners then, had reiterated that there was a good understanding between his father Lalu Prasad, the RJD president, and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the JD(U) supremo, both of whom were “sheersh neta” (top leaders) of the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ and, hence, it did not matter what others in either party said.