Be wary of social media, mindless warmongering: JD(U)

The ruling Janata Dal (United) in Bihar, an ally of the BJP, Thursday cautioned against "social media jingoism and mindless warmongering" that are being mistaken for bravery.

Invoking Mahatma Gandhi, JD(U) national vice president Prashant Kishor said #SayNoToWar, which has been trending on microblogging site Twitter ever since tension with Pakistan escalated, is not cowardice.

#SayNoToWar is not cowardice. The Father of the Nation was opposed to any war and he certainly was no coward. In fact, he was one of the bravest that humanity has ever seen. Social media jingoism and mindless warmongering should not be mistaken for bravery," the poll strategist-turned-politician tweeted.

Kishor was inducted into the JD(U) by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, the national president of the party, in September last year.

Although an alliance partner of the BJP since the 1990s, Kumar has maintained an independent stance on a number of key issues like the Ram temple.

Having snapped ties with the BJP in 2013 following differences over projecting the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the prime ministerial candidate, holding that it would be tantamount to a compromise on his stated commitment to secularism, Kumar returned to the NDA fold in 2017.

Nevertheless, his party has refused to toe the BJP line on issues like the triple talaq and has come out openly against the Citizenship Amendment Bill which has become an emotive issue in the entire North East threatening to vote against it when it was tabled in the Parliament.

After the Pulwama terror attack, which claimed the lives of 40 CRPF personnel, two of them hailing from Bihar, the Chief Minister had called for a strong response but opposed the demand, arising from a number of quarters, that Article 370 of the Constitution, which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir be abrogated saying I cannot even think of supporting such a demand".