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BJP ad on cow creates stir before final phase of Bihar polling

by IBNS 04 Nov 2015, 10:54 am

Patna, Nov 4 (IBNS) A day before the fifth and final phase of the assembly elections in Bihar a prominent ad appeared in newspapers on Wednesday featuring a woman hugging a cow an attack on 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 while  listing three comments made by Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and others.

Commenting on the ad Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted, " Have these ads in Bihar been given by BJP's fringe elements? Or by BJP top brass?." 

The ad made an obvious reference to Lalu Prasad Yadav's comment after a Muslim man was killed by a mob in Uttar Pradesh over rumours of beef eating and cow slaughter. "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?", Lalu Prasad had said.

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

The ad also lists the comments made by  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."