Nitish gives BJP a lesson on Indian culture and 'respect for elders'

Barely a day after Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), broke its 17-year-long alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), war of words intensified between the two. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar today accused BJP of betraying its allies and, more importantly, its “elders”.

Meanwhile, the saffron party alleged the Bihar CM of maintaining double standards. Taking a dig at BJP over the L K Advani issue, Kumar said: “They (BJP leaders) talk about betrayal, but they have betrayed their own elders.”

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of his weekly Janata Durbar, Kumar added: “They forgot Atal-Advani era, they forgot their elders. How can they accuse us of betrayal? They talk about Indian culture. Indian culture teaches us to respect our elders, but they sideline theirs. Which culture is this?” Countering this charge, Kumar’s former deputy and BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi said, “We always take care of our elders, but Kumar should answer the way he treated veteran socialist leader George Fernandes.”

Kumar said that his party was left with “no alternate” and maintained that the decision to part ways with BJP was not taken in haste, but happened “after due deliberations at an appropriate time”.