‘…buddhi nahin hai’: Nitish Kumar on Bihar BJP chief's ‘mitti main mila denge’ remark

On Saturday, Samrat Chaudhary, appointed last month as the BJP's Bihar unit chief, lashed out at the Kumar-led Mahagathbandhan govt of the state.

‘Brainless’ is how Nitish Kumar described Bihar BJP president Samrat Chaudhary, responding to the latter's ‘mitti mein mila denge’ statement against the chief minister-led Mahagathbandhan (grand alliance) government of the state.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar (File photo/PTI)

“…people who make such remarks…have I ever made such a remark? If someone uses words like these, it means they do not have a brain. Therefore, they say whatever comes to their mind…(I) ask them to do whatever they want to, and do it wherever they want to,” said Kumar on Sunday, when asked by reporters about Chaudhary's comment.

The chief minister's retort came a day after Chaudhary's statement. Speaking at an event at the BJP's office in state capital Patna, Chaudhary, who was appointed to the post in March, said that just like criminals in the neighbouring Uttar Pradesh were being reduced to dust, the Nitish regime too would ‘bite the dust’ in Bihar's next assembly election (due in 2025).

The BJP leader used the phrase ‘mitti main mila denge’ (will reduce to dust) for the Nitish Kumar government. The phrase was made popular by the party's chief minister in Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath, known for his ‘tough’ stance against criminals. ‘Mitti main mila denge,’ Adityanath thundered on Feb 25, a day after the daylight killing of a murder case witness, and his two police guards, in Prayagraj.

BJP vs Nitish Kumar

In August last year, Kumar dumped the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) , and joined the RJD, Congress, and others in Mahagathbandhan, doing so five years after moving in the opposite direction. Since then, the saffron party has been trying to corner the Mahagathbandhan government on a host of issues, primarily law and order.

In recent days, Nitish has been busy trying to stitch an opposition alliance to take on the BJP in the 2024 general elections, when prime minister Narendra Modi will seek a third straight term.