Raxaul: BJP President Amit Shah today said if BJP loses in Bihar, Diwali will be celebrated in Pakistan, a statement his rivals called was an attempt to communalise the elections.
“If BJP loses Bihar elections even by chance, though victory or defeat will happen in Patna, firecrackers would be burst in Pakistan,” he told an election rally here in East Champaran district.
He appealed to the people to ensure victory of BJP “so that disappointment descends in Pakistan”.
On a whirlwind campaign in Bihar for next two phases of polling, Shah's statement assumes significance as these phases would cover a number of constituencies where Muslims are in sizeable number in the 57 seats in the last phase that includes Kisanganj, Araria, Purnea, Katihar and Darbhanga.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi has fielded candidates in six seats in Seemanchal areas.Meanwhile, the grand secular alliance has taken strong exception to Shah's statement and has decided to knock the doors of the Election Commission tomorrow.
A delegation of JD(U), RJD and Congress would lodge a complaint with the Election Commission against Shah's reference to Pakistan “which is aimed at polarisation of votes on communal lines”, JD(U) General Secretary K C Tyagi told PTI.
Read Also: Amit Shah's remarks an attempt to communalise Bihar polls: JD(U)
Earlier, the BJP president made a blistering attack on Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad in his rallies at Ziradei, Valmikinagar and Bagha.
In Ziradei in Siwan district, which is birth place of first President Rajendra Prasad, Shah sought to give a push to the “jungle raj” punch on the Nitish Kumar-led alliance.
“Do you know who will be most happy if grand secular alliance wins Bihar elections? It will not be Nitish Kumar or Lalu Prasad but Mohammad Shahabuddin,” he told the crowd. Shahabuddin, a former RJD MP and a gangster from Siwan is currently lodged in Bhagalpur jail.
Shah remarks come against the backdrop of reports that it could be a tough going for the saffron alliance in the state contrary to earlier reports that the BJP-led grouping was comfortably placed.
Shah alleged that Lalu was making a casteist appeal by calling the elections a fight between forwards and backwards. “We also say it's a fight between forward and backward but it's not on caste lines as said by Lalu Prasad but a ‘pichra (backward) Bihar, versus ‘aggra (frontline) Bihar',” he said.
In Valmikinagar, Shah took potshots at Nitish saying on November 8, the day of the results, “By 1 PM, the BJP would be preparing to form a government in Bihar and by 2 PM, Nitish Kumar would for the last time go out of the chief minister's house in his official car to Raj Bhawan to submit his resignation.”
