Bihar: Ahead of Holi, Sparks Over Friday Prayer and Colour Heats up Politics

Patna: Ahead of Holi, the festival of colours, controversial statements by leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its ally Janata Dal-United (JD-U) in Bihar over ‘Jumma Namaz’ (Friday prayers) and ‘Rang’(colour) have heated up politics. Never before has such issue, threatening communal harmony, surfaced in the state ahead of Holi, Notably, Assembly elections are due later this year in Bihar.

It all started with BJP firebrand MLA Haribhushan Singh Thakur Bachol on Monday, when he appealed to Muslims to stay indoors on Holi on March 14, which coincides with Friday prayers in mosques or outside during the ongoing holy month of Ramzan, “to give full freedom to Hindus to celebrate their festival”.

Reacting to BJP's MLA statement, Darbhanga Municipal Corporation (DMC) mayor Anjum Ara, who is a JD-U leader, on Wednesday added fuel to fire when she appealed to people (mainly Hindus) to stop Holi from 12.30 pm to 2 p.m to allow Muslims to offer Friday prayers “without any trouble”. In her counter to the BJP leader, she stated that as Jumma (Friday) prayer time cannot be extended, there should be a two-hour break on playing Holi. Incidentally, both BJP and JD-U are allies in the ruling government.

The JD-U leader’s appeal triggered an angry response from BJP leaders and some JD-U leaders also reacted strongly against her for making such a statement.

A Bihar minister, Ashok Choudhary, who is a senior JD-U leader and is considered close to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, demanded Ara’s (the Darbhanga Mayor) removal from the party (JD-U) for her statement. "It was a wrong statement, contrary to our leader Nitish Kumar's stand to strengthen communal harmony. Such people should be removed from the party", he said.

Two other senior JD-U leaders, Sharvan Kumar and Madan Sahni, both state ministers, also questioned Ara’s statement and said it “was in bad taste” and she should not have made such remark on Holi.

Interestingly, most of these top JD-U leaders were silent after the BJP MLA Bachol stated that Muslims should stay indoors during Holi and should not go outside to offer Friday prayers.

The BJP MLA, who appealed to Muslims to stay indoors on Holi instead of going outside to offer Friday prayers, alleged that the Darbhanga Mayor want to “create communal tension” by making such an appeal.

"Darbhanga mayor aag lagana chahti hai. Samaj mein aag lagana chahti hai. Koi mai ka lal Bihar mein Holi manane se rok nahi sakta hai", said Bachol. (She is trying to fuel fire in society. No one can dare to stop us from playing Holi).

Bachol also dared opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leaders to counter the Darbhanga Mayor’s statement. “Why are Opposition leaders silent on her statement", he said.

Ironically, it was Bachol who first made a controversial statement that Muslims should stay indoors on Holi. He reportedly said there were 52 Fridays in a year and they (Muslims) could avoid coming out this Friday that concides with Holi. He also suggested that Muslims should not “take offence” if colour is applied on them in case they venture out on Holi.

Meanwhile, Opposition leader Tejashwi Yadav of RJD strongly targeted Bachol for his statement. "Who is Bachol to issue such an appeal to Muslims to stay indoors on Holi? Who have given him this power? Where is the Chief Minister? Why is he not taking cognizance of his ally leader who is play divisive politics? he said.

The writer is a freelancer based in Patna, Bihar.