Thakur row: Lalan Singh comes out in support of Manoj Jha

Patna, Sep 28 (IANS) Amid a major row over an alleged anti-Thakur poem read by RJD Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha in Parliament, the National President of the JD(U), Lalan Singh, came out in support of him and said that the RJD leader had not given a statement on any caste and a section of the media twisted Jha’s statement.

While interacting with media persons in Patna on Thursday, Lalan Singh said, “People need to watch the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha where Manoj Jha mentioned the poetry. He said that suppose he was a Thakur. He did not have any intention to hurt the sentiments of any caste or community and the controversy started seven days after his statement.

“The BJP is responsible for it. It is a party which creates confusion and a certain section of the media deliberately runs the news to spread confusion. Such media organisations are controlled by the Union Home Minister and the producers and directors sitting in their offices are specially deployed there only to spread confusion.”

Lalan Singh said this while terming BJP as a “Kanfuska party” in Hindi.

The Thakur row started when Manoj Jha, while making his point on the Women’s Reservation Bill during the special session of Parliament on September 22, mentioned a poem on the floor of the House which talked about dictatorship of the past.

Following Manoj Jha’s poem, RJD MLA Chetan Anand has opened a front against Jha and slammed him for his remarks against the Rajput (Thakur) caste.

He said that Manoj Jha was indulging in duplicity in the name of socialist values.

In a Facebook post, Chetan Anand said: “We are Thakurs and we believe in taking every community forward. We have made the most sacrifices in history. Targeting one caste in the name of socialist values is nothing but duplicity.

“When we cannot hear unsavoury remarks against others, how can we tolerate abusive poems against Thakurs. We strongly object to Manoj Jha’s statement.”

His father, Anand Mohan Singh, also attacked Manoj Jha and compared him with ‘fitkari (Alum)’. “One ‘fitkiri’ Jha (Manoj Jha) is here who does not want the Rajput community to get united. Hence he is making statements like this,” Singh said.

“Fitkiri has a dual character. One is to work as an antiseptic and another is to split milk. If you take one drum of milk and if you put a small piece of fitkiri into it, the milk will split. That man ‘fitkiri’ Jha is doing the latter work. He is an agent of the BJP. Once the RJD gets weak in Bihar, he would be the first to join the BJP.

“I know his uncle as well. He won the election on the ticket of the Samajwadi Party but when he saw the Congress forming the government at the Centre, he went there. Right now, the RJD top leadership does not understand my point, but ‘fitkiri’ Jha will do the same,” Anand Mohan said.