Tejashwi takes a swipe at Nitish Kumar for not chanting 'Vande Mataram' at PM's rally

PATNA: RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav took a nagging swipe at Bihar CM Nitish Kumar over the latter maintaining “silence” during the “Vande Mataram” chants raised by PM Narendra Modi at recent NDA rally at Darbhanga in Bihar.
In a video, which is in wide circulation on social media these days, Nitish can be seen staying “silent and calm” on the stage at a time when the PM Modi chanting ‘Vande Mataram’ waving fists in the air.
Other BJP leaders on the stage and the LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan also joined in the "Vande Mataram" chorus, but Nitish who was sitting next to state BJP chief Nityanand Rai on the stage, stayed calm during the PM’s chant. Moreover, everyone on the stage rose to their feet to join PM Modi in the chanting, Nitish was the last to stand up that too when the PM reached near him while waving his hands to public.
In the state’s political circles, the video is being portrayed as a “telling proof of inner contradictions” among the NDA partners especially in between the BJP and Nitish’s JD(U).
As the video, taken at an NDA rally in Darbhanga on April 25, became viral on social media, Tejashwi took to Twitter and made a nagging remark on his Nitish chacha, with popular Bollywood song “Haaye Haaye Yeh Majboori, Yeh Mausam Aur Yeh Doori” sung by Lata Mangeshkar for the movie 'Roti Kapada Aur Makaan'.

While tagging Nitish with the Darbhanga rally’s video, Tejashwi also wrote, “Keep your special focus only on my uncle (Nitish Kumar). My dear uncle, what have you done to yourself? Maybe, you will not feel suffocated since you are surrounded by poisoned people."
Reacting over the video, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi asked, “Will Sanghis and Bhakts now call Nitish Kumar as anti-national, and will they say Bharat mein Rahnaa hai to ...... bolna?”
Earlier at the same rally, PM Modi while taking a dig at the RJD’s Darbhanga candidate Abdul Bari Siddiqui, had said, "Chanting Vande Mataram is like a life force. Doing this is also a responsibility to ensure the peace, prosperity and security of the nation. But some people have a problem with this. They should have their deposits forfeited.”
Two days before the PM’s rally, Siddiqui had told a TV channel that he had no objections to chanting "Bharat Mata Ki Jai", reciting Vande Mataram was against his beliefs. "No one who believes in one God will not ever recite Vande Mataram,” Siddiqui had said.
However, Nitish’s party JD(U) on Thursday tried to downplayed gossip about contradictions within the NDA. JD(U) state president and Rajya Sabha member Bashishtha Narain Singh categorically denied that there is any uneasiness between his party chief and the BJP or PM Modi. “There is nothing. We are busy in the ongoing polls together. We are campaigning together,” Singh told reporters.