Holy Cow! BJP Ad Rubs it in Before Final Voting in Bihar

Mangalore Today News Network

Patna, Nov 04, 2015:  A day before Bihar votes in the fifth and final phase of the assembly elections, the state woke up this morning to a prominent ad in newspapers featuring a woman hugging a cow and an attack on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on his "silence" over statements made by his allies on beef.

 

The ad, issued by the Bharatiya Janata Party, asks why Nitish Kumar has not acted on "repeated insults" to the cow by his allies. "Stop vote bank politics and explain whether you endorse these statements," the ad says, before listing three comments made by Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Yadav and others.

In each, the word beef has been highlighted in red.

Among those who shared the ad on social media was Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who also tweeted, " Have these ads in Bihar been given by BJP’s fringe elements? Or by BJP top brass?." Mr Kejrial has also made a vote appeal for Nitish Kumar, who is seeking a third term as chief minister.

It was Lalu Yadav’s comment which added the beef controversy to the long list of issues that the BJP and the Nitish Kumar -led alliances have sparred over during the Bihar campaign.

Soon after a Muslim man was killed by a mob over rumours of beef eating and cow slaughter in neighbouring Uttar Prdaesh in September, Lalu Yadav had said, "Don’t Hindus eat beef too? It is the poor who are forced to eat beef. People eat (beef) outside the country too. What difference does it make?"

The BJP immediately launched an aggressive campaign around the remark, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi repeatedly attacking Lalu Yadav in election speeches.

Today’s ad also lists comments but also one by another senior RJD leader Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramiah’s declaration earlier this week that, "No one can prevent me from eating beef if I want to."

Mr Siddaramiah is from the Congress which partners Nitish Kumar and Lalu Yadav in the anti-BJP ’Grand Alliance’.

Bihar has already voted in four phases in what is seen as a very close contest. The fifth phase tomorrow will see voting in 57 constituencies. Votes will be counted on Sunday, November 8 for all 243 seats.

Courtesy: NDTV