Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar is under attack from the Opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) after his video of greeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi during Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s swearing-in ceremony went viral. A lot is being read into the body language of CM Kumar as he greeted the PM with folded hands and bending at his waist.
Former Bihar chief minister Rabri Devi alleged that Kumar fell on the feet of PM Modi because of compulsions. “Kuchh majboori hogi….. Pradhan Mantri ka pair pakad liye” (there must have been some compulsion that made him fall at the PM’s feet), said Rabri Devi.
RJD spokesperson Bhai Virendra said that CM Kumar can do anything to save his chair. He alleged that Kumar’s prostration has brought the same to Bihar.
The RJD has sought to juxtapose the chief minister’s current stance against his famous rivalry with Modi when the latter was the Gujarat CM, whose rise to national prominence had caused him to snap several years old ties with the BJP.
The opposition contended that Kumar’s body language was symbolic of his capitulation before the BJP which has now overshadowed his JD(U) in terms of numerical strength in the Bihar legislative assembly.
The opposition’s comment riled the JD(U) which launched a vicious counterattack. JD(U) spokesperson Upendra Kushwaha said that what Kumar did was shishtachaar (courtesy) but Rabri Devi must not be knowing what it means and it is evident from the durgati (plight) of her daughter in law.
Kushwaha was referring to Aishwarya, the wife of Rabri Devi’s elder son Tej Pratap Yadav, who had accused her in-laws of having driven her out of her their house following her estrangement from her husband.
(With PTI inputs)