Communal statements by Giriraj unfortunate: JDU leader Pawan Verma

JDU leader Pawan Verma on Wednesday said that "communal statements" made by BJP leader and Union Cabinet Minister Giriraj Singh about Iftar were unfortunate.

"There is a communal pattern in his statements. He is filled with venom and hatred for a particular community. It is very unfortunate for someone who has been promoted as a Cabinet minister," said Verma, while talking to ANI.

Replying to Giriraj's tweet on Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar attending an Iftar ceremony, Verma said: "Nitish ji celebrates Holi, Shivratri, Chhath and many other festivals also. Why did he take offence to Iftaar celebration?"

To the media reports of Giriraj getting a dressing down by party president and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Verma said: "Yes, I have also heard that Amit Shahji has rebuked him but we wonder whether that will have the desired effect on him or not."

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also advised his MPs and MLAs to refrain from making such comments but the leaders of the likes of Giriraj seem not to have understood that," Verma added.

Reacting to LJP president Ramvilas Paswan's prophecy that parties like SP, RJD and BSP will shut their shops by 2020, Verma said: "I don't know that they will entirely shut their shop but I think that all these caste-based parties need to introspect. If they don't learn lessons, then they are all doomed."

"The raison d'etre of such parties was based on caste arithmetic and saw voters in vertical silos. They believed that there can be no horizontal appeal to voters cutting across the caste lines."

Expressing happiness over the conduct of Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir at the end of this year, Verma said: "Any process towards normalcy has a better chance of succeeding when there is a due democratic representation of Jammu and Kashmir through the legislative assembly.