How INDIA ally Tejashwi Yadav reacted to DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran's ‘Bihar, UP people clean toilets’ remark
Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav condemned DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran's controversial remark.
The row over DMK MP Dayanidhi Maran's alleged remark that people from the Hindi heartland of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh did clean toilets and other menial jobs in Tamil Nadu has snowballed into a massive political controversy, with Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav, an ally of the Opposition's INDIA bloc, now condemning the statement.
Tejashwi Yadav, however, said like his Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the DMK headed by Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin was a party that believed in social justice and it was unbecoming of a leader of such a party to have made such a remark.
“Had the DMK MP highlighted caste iniquities, had he pointed out that only people from some social groups took up such hazardous jobs, it would have made sense,” Tejashwi Yadav told reporters on Sunday.
“But to speak disparagingly of the entire populace of Bihar and UP is reprehensible. We condemn it. We believe that people should be respectful towards those coming from other parts of the country,” Yadav added.
The RJD leader said the party look upon the DMK as a party which shares its ideal of social justice. “Its leaders should avoid saying things that run counter to the ideal,” said Yadav, who is known to share personal equations with MK Stalin.
The controversy has erupted over an undated video of Maran in which the former Union minister can be seen stressing in Tamil on the importance of English education.
Maran had allegedly claimed that those who acquired proficiency in English got respectable jobs in the IT sector unlike residents of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh who knew only Hindi and ended up migrating to richer states like Tamil Nadu for "cleaning toilets and roads and working as construction labour".
BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya also posted the video on X.
The ruling Mahagathbandhan in Bihar, of which the RJD is the largest constituent, and the DMK-helmed Secular Progressive Alliance, are now part of the INDIA coalition.
Reacting to Yadav's statement, Vishnu Vardhan Reddy of the Andhra Pradesh BJP said, “The Deputy CM of Bihar Tejaswi Yadav cannot even condemn the hateful statement of the DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran without giving excuses. The state in which the representatives of Bihar have put their people into presenting themselves just as workers and labourers is sad. What a shame!!”
Earlier on Sunday, senior BJP leader from Bihar Ravi Shankar Prasad questioned chief minister Nitish Kumar over Maran's remark. "They should stop insulting (people of Bihar). People of Bihar are forced to go there because of the condition of the state under Nitish Kumar, who is a member of their INDI alliance," Prasad said.
(With inputs from PTI)
