Patna: Union Minister Giriraj Singh’s comment that those who don’t attend Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s March 3 rally in Bihar would make it clear who
supported Pakistan, has made him the subject of the opposition’s barbs after he failed to show up at the rally. The leaders of the opposition parties didn’t
buy his explanation that he had taken ill as they took jibes at the minister.
“It was Giriraj Singh himself who had laid down the yardstick that those not attending the rally would be deemed anti-national. Hence, he is himself a big
traitor. For where is he applying VISA for,” Bihar lawmaker Pappu Yadav took a dig on Twitter.
A senior leader of Lalu Yadav’s party, Vijay Prakash, said that he was an anti-national by his own logic. “Giriraj Singh has proved that, by his own logic,
he is anti-national. In any case, the rally was rejected by the patriotic public of Bihar,” he was quoted by news agency PTI as saying.
The National spokesperson of Upendra Kushwaha’s RLSP, Fazal Imam Malik, demanded a public apology from the minister. “He should now tell us who must be sent
to Pakistan,” he quipped, demanding his expulsion from the BJP.
While the BJP said the opposition was twisting his comment, its ally in Bihar, the JDU, has distanced itself from the matter.
In the Bihar rally on Sunday, PM Modi accused the Congress of providing ammunition to Pakistan with its criticism of the government over the air strikes in
Pakistan’s Balakot. Contending that the Congress stance would only please Pakistan, he said, “They asked for evidence of the surgical strikes. Now, they ask
for evidence of the strikes by the Air Forces”.
