In a shocking development, a statement by the national secretary and former MLA Yaduvansh Kumar Yadav took the political spectrum by storm on April 29, when the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader, while addressing the party functionaries in Supaul, ‘claimed that Brahmins are not Indians and their ancestors had arrived in India from Russia’.
As per the reports, the senior RJD leader, in his speech, claimed that the Brahmins have settled in India from Russia and other European countries, and unlike Yadavs, they are not bonafide Indians; he further contended that as per the DNA reports, it’s been established that Brahmins are outsiders.
Addressing the party workers on April 29, RJD secretary Yadav further asserted that the Brahmins are trying to divide the society and rule us, which needs to be opposed.
Meanwhile, expressing their views on the RJD leader’s statement, Abhishek Kumar Jha, spokesperson of Janata Dal-United, the RJD ally in the Government, said the controversial remark by the RJD leader is condemnable. “I want to ask Had Lord Parashuram arrived from Russia? These kinds of comments from the RJD leaders are only to be in the limelight; it damages the reputation of the grand alliance (Mahagathbandhan)”, added Mr Jha.
It is to be noted that this is not the first time that a senior leader from RJD has made a controversial remark about the majority community, and earlier in January, senior party leader and education minister Chandrasekhar too made the national headlines when he claimed that Ramcharitmanas written by the great Hindu sage, Tulsidas spreads hatred in the society.
A few days later, Samajwadi Party’s (SP) leader, Swami Prasad Maurya too, in a statement that emboldened Chandrasekhar’s remark and demanded to remove certain verses from the Hindu epic, a few supporters of the SP leader also turned some pages of the sacred scripture in public following which the UP police had registered an FIR in the case.
Meanwhile, speaking with the Organiser, Nikhil Anand, spokesperson of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), said that the “controversial remark is part of the Mahagathbandhan strategy, they are trying to unite a specific vote bank by triggering such issues, the grand alliance formed the government in August 2022 and after that the rhetoric against religious texts including Ramcharitmanas is being intensified.”
On the one hand, efforts are on to build a caste-based discourse, while on the other hand, SC, ST and OBC communities are being exploited in the Seemanchal region of the state; the strategy of the Mahagathbandhan is to entangle the Hindus in the caste lines to take political advantage, it’s not a matter of Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Yadavs, Dalits and tribals. Rather it’s a matter of the identity of Sanatan Dharma and the unity and integrity of the Indian nation, which should be protected, added Mr Anand.
It should be noted that a caste census is also being conducted by the ruling JDU-RJD alliance in the state, against which several petitions have been filed before the court, challenging the constitutional validity of the exercise.
