Tejaswi Yadav brands Himanta Biswa Sarma as ‘Chinese version of Yogi’; BJP hits back ‘Seems Sam Pitroda has taken over…’

Bihar former deputy chief minister Tejaswi Yadav termed Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma as ‘Chinese version of Yogi’ after the latter announced the obliteration of ‘Jummah Break’, the 2-hour break given people who follow Islam , for their Friday prayers, also known as ‘Namaz'.

Tejaswi Yadav slammed the Assam CM and alleged that Himanta Biswa Sarma ‘deliberately keeps doing acts that harass Muslims’.

“The people of BJP have made Muslim brothers a soft target to spread hatred, attract the attention of Modi-Shah and polarize the society.”, Tejaswi Yadav posted on X (formerly Twitter).

“People of all religions, except RSS, have a hand in the independence of the country. Our Muslim brothers have made sacrifices in getting the country freedom and as long as we are here, no one can harm them”, Yadav added.

BJP hits back at Tejaswi Yadav

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday hit out at leader Tejashwi Yadav, who dubbed Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma as the “Chinese version of Yogi”, saying that such remarks reflect the ‘racist mentality’ of INDIA bloc leaders.

BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla while drawing parallels between Yadav’s comments with that of remarks made by India Overseas Congress Chairman Sam Pitroda, accused the INDIA bloc of harboring a racist mentality, suggesting that Pitroda’s influence has permeated Yadav’s mindset.

“Tejashwi Yadav labels Assam CM @himantabiswa as a “Chinese” because he is an Assamese and from the North-East! This reflects racist mentality of the INDI Alliance & it seems Sam Pitroda has taken over mindspace of Tejaswi when he makes such racist comments. Does Rahul Gandhi, Gaurav Gogoi endorse this as “Muhabbat ki Dukaan”. Will they end ties with RJD for such unconstitutional, anti Bharat Jodo, racist and hateful comments?” he said in a post on X.

Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday slammed senior RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav for his remarks on namaz break rule and advised him to practice before preaching.

"Tejashwi Yadav is criticising me but I want to ask him...is there any such practice in Bihar? You (Yadav) should have implemented four-hour break when you were deputy chief minister of Bihar. Practice it first before preaching," Sarma said.

The controversy between INDIA bloc and BJP erupted after the Assam government on Friday decided to abolish the two-hour Jumma break provided on Fridays to facilitate Muslim legislators to offer ‘namaz’. The rule will be implemented from the next session, Assam’s Parliamentary Affairs Minister said.