Amidst the Ramcharitmanas controversy, another video clip of Bihar’s controversial Education Minister Chandrashekhar has emerged on social media. In the video clip, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader is seen praising Islam and calling it the only religion to advocate love and peace.
In the video clip, Chandrashekhar while speaking to a media person said, “Mohabbat (love) aur Imaan (faith) ka paigaam (message) dene wala akela Islam hai.”
As the video clip started doing rounds on social media, BJP slammed the Bihar Education Minister.
Sharing the viral clip, Nikhil Anand, National General Secretary of BJP’s OBC Morcha accused RJD of doing appeasement politics, he also took a dig at CM Nitish Kumar who had earlier distanced himself from the Ramcharitmanas controversy.
“Listen to this statement of Education Minister Chandrashekharji- Islam is the only one who gives the message of love and faith. The Education Minister gave a statement to appease Muslims under the agenda of RJD’s appeasement politics! ‘Mr maloom nahi chief minister’, why are you silent on your cabinet minister’s statement?” Anand tweeted.
It is pertinent to note that the viral video clip is taken from a longer video from last year. On the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr 2022, the RJD MLA was at an Eid-Milan event in Madhepura. During the event, Chandrashekhar had showered praises on Islam and also said that the people of Madhepura and Bihar have to chase out the ‘enemies of peace’ as the country belongs to everyone.
“Islam is the only religion that propagates the message of love and faith. I want to tell this to everyone and to the people of Madhepura and Bihar that we have to chase out the enemies of peace, we all have together made this country, this country does not belong to anyone’s father (kisi ek ke bap ka dash nahi hai), that is why those who spread hatred should rot and the people of faith should be hailed (Nafrat failaney waalon ki kshay ho aur Imaan waalon ki jai ho),” Chandrashekhar said.
Notably, Bihar Education Minister Chandrashekhar had recently stoked controversy after he made derogatory comments about the holy Hindu scripture Ramcharitmanas during the 15th convocation ceremony of the Nalanda Open University in Patna. He claimed that the verse in the Ramcharitmanas ‘Adham jati me vidya paye, bhayatu yatha dudh pilaye’ means ‘Lower caste people become poisonous after getting education like snake becomes after drinking milk’.
The Bihar education minister went on to say that Ramcharitmanas prevent Dalits, lower castes, and women from getting an education, and therefore it should be burnt. Dr. Chandrashekhar further said that RSS is spreading hatred in the country.
It pertinent to mention that the verse Chandrashekhar quoted is an often deliberately misinterpreted translation of the verse because the word poisonous does not appear in the verse as claimed. It means that just like the snake feels happy after drinking milk, the speaker – who is referring to himself as adham jati – also feels happy after getting education.
Despite the outrage, Chandrashekhar refused to withdraw his controversial comments. Besides, Bihar CM when questioned by the media about the matter tried to distance himself claiming that he is not aware of the matter.