Giriraj Singh gets panned for Iftar taunt, gets earful from Amit Shah too

Union Minister Giriraj Singh set up a huge row on Tuesday with a tweet that taunted bosses of his party’s two alliance partners Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan for attending an Iftar event.

In this, Giriraj Singh – who had put out four photographs featuring the alliance partners at the event – said it would have been beautiful if a fruit feast had been organised during Navratra with the same fervour. “Why do we lag behind in observance of our own karm-dharm (religious customs) in public, while staying ahead to make a show for those of others,” Singh tweeted in Hindi.

Janata Dal United’s Nitish Kumar, Bihar’s Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi as well as Lok Jankshakti Party’s Ram Vilas Paswan and his son Chirag Paswan featured prominently in the photographs.

Also read: Giriraj Singh trolls allies over Iftar event; Nitish Kumar says he knows why

As the controversy that the tweet stoked showed no signs of ebbing several hours later, the two alliance partners finally gave it back to Giriraj Singh. Soon after came news that BJP chief Amit Shah had also picked up the phone to reprimand Giriraj Singh, who was recently elevated as a Union Minister and given charge of the animal husbandry. He was a minister of state in the previous edition of the NDA government.

Quoting BJP leaders, news agency PTI said Amit Shah had phoned Giriraj Singh to admonish him and told him to avoid making such statements.

Minutes earlier, Nitish Kumar who recently had differences with the BJP leadership on the induction of his party leaders in the Union Cabinet, had brushed aside Giriraj Singh’s taunt pointing that he was just trying to stay in the news.

“He (Giriraj Singh) does all this so that the media makes news out of it,” the chief minister said, according to news agency ANI. But Nitish Kumar’s party has been fuming. The statement reflects Giriraj Singh’s “mental sickness”, said JD(U) spokesman Sanjay Singh and urging BJP leadership to take stern action against him.

Ram Vilas Paswan similarly gave Giriraj Singh the silent treatment and went on to put out photographs of the media coverage of the Iftar event that he had hosted. But he appeared to have left it to his son Chirag Paswan to counter Giriraj Singh. In a tweet, the 36-year-old who heads the parliamentary board of his party, quoted PM Narendra Modi’s new slogan to take a swipe at the Union Animal Husbandry Minister.

“The spirit behind the slogan Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabha Vishwas, has been the motto of the Lok Janshakti Party. I am happy that PM Modi has also repeated this slogan… This kind of questions raise fingers on India’s traditions,” the junior Paswan tweeted.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Shivanand Tiwary said that Giriraj Singh had taken the cover of religion but his action defies the principles of dharma. “Singh’s karma seems to be that of an adharmi (non-religious person),” said Tiwary.