Tweet by Tejashwi triggers political spat in Bihar

A tweet by Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav, celebrating the victory of his party and mocking the defeat of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal-United in a recent bypoll at Jokihat, on Saturday triggered a political spat in Bihar.

While the JD-U deplored the tweet by the leader of the opposition in the state assembly and pointed to his lack of formal education, the RJD hit back saying even legendary poets like Kalidas and Tulsidas did not have academic qualifications and challenged the ruling party to arrange for an open debate between the chief minister and their 28-year-old leader.

Yadav had posted the tweet, in the Bhojpuri dialect, on Friday a day after his party wrested the Jokihat assembly seat from the JD-U and registered victory by a huge margin of over 41,000 votes.

In the tweet, Yadav had claimed that the result in the assembly segment of Araria district proved that Kumar owed the success of his party in 2015 assembly polls to the alliance with the RJD and not the other way round.

Kumar had walked out of the Grand Alliance last year after corruption cases were lodged against Yadav, who was then the Deputy CM.

In the tweet, Yadav had also remarked this is just a trailer. The film is yet to be screened hinting that he saw the probability of his party returning to power by defeating the JD-U in the next assembly polls in the state.

Reacting to the tweet, JD-U MLC and spokesman Neeraj Kumar said I am appalled by the language he has used. Though I never expected very high standards from him given that he did not even complete high school. The provocative tone of his tweet is in such a poor taste that I wonder whether he got admission to the prestigious Delhi Public School on merit or by virtue of the clout enjoyed by his family which is responsible for his meteoric rise.

Yadav, whom the RJD has declared as its heir apparent, is the younger son of party supremo Lalu Prasad.

Reacting to Neeraj Kumar’s statement, RJD MLA and spokesman Bhai Veerendra said the JD-U leader’s statement shows that he and his party lacks sanskar (culture). As far as educational qualifications are concerned, neither Kalidas nor Tulsidas had any. But can anybody doubt their knowledge and merit.

“I have said this before and am saying it again. I challenge the JD-U to arrange for an open debate between their leader Nitish Kumar and our leader Tejashwi Yadav. The debate can be held in English or Hindi, whichever language their leader feels comfortable with. If our leader loses, I
will retire from active politics,” Virendra said.