Every time Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses an election campaign rally of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Bihar, he unwittingly ends up giving its opponents more political ammunition.
At his first poll rally at Muzaffarpur on July 25, he faulted Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's DNA, giving his rivals an opportunity to create a narrative of Bihar DNA-versus-Gujarat DNA. At his second rally on Sunday, Modi unintentionally gave his adverseries a stick to beat BJP president Amit Shah with when he declared that people learn bad things in jail.
In Gaya, Modi launched a blistering attack on the coalition of Nitish Kumar of Janata Dal (United) and Lalu Prasad of Rashtriya Janata Dal.
“If Jungle Raj part two comes, everything will be ruined,” he declared and went on to point out that Lalu Prasad, who was convicted in the fodder scam, had spent time in jail. “Does anyone learn good things in jail? In Jungle Raj part one, there was no experience of jail. In Jungle Raj part two, there is an experience of jail.”
The remarks were immediately seized upon by Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad. Nitish Kumar tweeted: “You said people come out from jail learning bad things. Please tell us about bad things your party president Amit Shah learnt in jail.”
Fake encounter cases
Amit Shah was one of the accused in the fake encounter case of alleged Lashkar-e-Toiba operative Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kausarbi in 2005 and a similar killing in 2006 of Tulsiram Prajapati, a key witness in an earlier encounter. He was arrested on July 25, 2010, and was in jail for almost three months. In December last year, a CBI court discharged him in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh case.
Later on Sunday, the Bihar chief minister said at a press conference in Patna, “We consider jails as reformatories where even yoga is taught. But he [Modi] thinks otherwise, and he revealed it at a time when the person [Amit Shah] sitting on the same dais – and who had spoken just before him – was jailed himself. This person, whom he has made the party chief, has spent several months in jail.”
Lalu Prasad, the target of Modi’s jail remarks, too did not let go of the opportunity. “The prime minister should ask his friend Amit Shah what else he has learnt in addition to falsehood, miscampaign and dividing people from the jail,” he tweeted.
Anxiety in BJP
Within the BJP, the fallout of Modi’s prison barb stirred concern. “Amit Shah’s track record must have flashed in the mind of those who heard and saw Modi’s speech,” said a senior BJP leader in Bihar. “It would be stupid to pretend that the issue would not keep reverberating throughout the campaign, especially when you have shrewd rivals like Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad.”
From Shah's point of view, he certainly wouldn’t have liked like his past records to be dragged in the electoral debate, especially when the BJP is fighting a fierce battle in the state.
A fortnight back, while addressing the party’s first rally at Muzaffarpur to kickstart the poll campaign in Bihar, Modi had said that “there is something wrong in his [Nitish] political DNA”. The remark gave Nitish Kumar a chance to weave an electoral narrative based on Bihari pride by asserting that the prime minister, who belongs to Gujarat, had insulted all Biharis.
“The prime minister said there is something wrong in my DNA. I’m a son of Bihar, so it is the same DNA as the people of Bihar,” Nitish tweeted. “I leave it to the people of Bihar how to judge a person who maligns their DNA.” He then went on to write an open letter to the Prime Minister asking him to take back his words.
BJP insiders concede that just as Modi’s DNA remark backfired and helped the BJP’s rivals to play the Bihari pride card, his latest prison barb has left Amit Shah open to attack.
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At his first poll rally at Muzaffarpur on July 25, he faulted Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's DNA, giving his rivals an opportunity to create a narrative of Bihar DNA-versus-Gujarat DNA. At his second rally on Sunday, Modi unintentionally gave his adverseries a stick to beat BJP president Amit Shah with when he declared that people learn bad things in jail.
In Gaya, Modi launched a blistering attack on the coalition of Nitish Kumar of Janata Dal (United) and Lalu Prasad of Rashtriya Janata Dal.
“If Jungle Raj part two comes, everything will be ruined,” he declared and went on to point out that Lalu Prasad, who was convicted in the fodder scam, had spent time in jail. “Does anyone learn good things in jail? In Jungle Raj part one, there was no experience of jail. In Jungle Raj part two, there is an experience of jail.”
The remarks were immediately seized upon by Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad. Nitish Kumar tweeted: “You said people come out from jail learning bad things. Please tell us about bad things your party president Amit Shah learnt in jail.”
Fake encounter cases
Amit Shah was one of the accused in the fake encounter case of alleged Lashkar-e-Toiba operative Sohrabuddin Sheikh and his wife Kausarbi in 2005 and a similar killing in 2006 of Tulsiram Prajapati, a key witness in an earlier encounter. He was arrested on July 25, 2010, and was in jail for almost three months. In December last year, a CBI court discharged him in the Sohrabuddin Sheikh case.
Later on Sunday, the Bihar chief minister said at a press conference in Patna, “We consider jails as reformatories where even yoga is taught. But he [Modi] thinks otherwise, and he revealed it at a time when the person [Amit Shah] sitting on the same dais – and who had spoken just before him – was jailed himself. This person, whom he has made the party chief, has spent several months in jail.”
Lalu Prasad, the target of Modi’s jail remarks, too did not let go of the opportunity. “The prime minister should ask his friend Amit Shah what else he has learnt in addition to falsehood, miscampaign and dividing people from the jail,” he tweeted.
Anxiety in BJP
Within the BJP, the fallout of Modi’s prison barb stirred concern. “Amit Shah’s track record must have flashed in the mind of those who heard and saw Modi’s speech,” said a senior BJP leader in Bihar. “It would be stupid to pretend that the issue would not keep reverberating throughout the campaign, especially when you have shrewd rivals like Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad.”
From Shah's point of view, he certainly wouldn’t have liked like his past records to be dragged in the electoral debate, especially when the BJP is fighting a fierce battle in the state.
A fortnight back, while addressing the party’s first rally at Muzaffarpur to kickstart the poll campaign in Bihar, Modi had said that “there is something wrong in his [Nitish] political DNA”. The remark gave Nitish Kumar a chance to weave an electoral narrative based on Bihari pride by asserting that the prime minister, who belongs to Gujarat, had insulted all Biharis.
“The prime minister said there is something wrong in my DNA. I’m a son of Bihar, so it is the same DNA as the people of Bihar,” Nitish tweeted. “I leave it to the people of Bihar how to judge a person who maligns their DNA.” He then went on to write an open letter to the Prime Minister asking him to take back his words.
BJP insiders concede that just as Modi’s DNA remark backfired and helped the BJP’s rivals to play the Bihari pride card, his latest prison barb has left Amit Shah open to attack.