BEGUSARAI: BJP candidate from Bihar's Begusarai constituency, Giriraj Singh has once again given the controversial statement. The veteran BJP leader, who has been pitched against former student leader Kanhaiya Kumar from Begusarai, had a sharp message - ostensibly for an RJD candidate. "I want to say who don't say Vande Mataram, can't worship the motherland - Giriraj's father and grandfather died on the Simaria ghat by the banks of the Ganga and did not need a grave. You, on the other hand, need three-arm's-length of land. If you don't do it, the country will never forgive you," he said.
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His comment was meant for the RJD candidate from Darbhanga, Abdul Bari Siddiqui. "The RJD candidate said in Darbhanga that he won't say Vande Mataram," Giriraj Singh said. But the minister has long been known for his communal remarks, for which he drew reprimand from ally Nitish Kumar last year. On Tuesday, he had called on a ban on green flags -- often associated with Islam - by the Election Commission. In November, his comment that the Islamic seminary of Deoband was a "temple of terrorism" had drawn protests.
On Monday, in a joint rally with Nitish Kumar in Begusarai's Bakhri, he had said, "I will show you -- Giriraj Singh will take every possible to step to uphold development and communal harmony which will fulfil the dreams of the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister and Ram Vilas Paswan". He accused the opposition of "trying to spread communal fire". "As long as the BJP is there, we won't let it happen, neither in Bihar nor in Begusarai," he said.
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