Union Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Giriraj Singh on Saturday raised an objection over questions related to Islam in the Sanskrit exam paper of class 9. He accused Chief Minister Nitish Kumar of “Islamisation of Sanskrit” as if we were living in Pakistan or Bangladesh. He also alleged that Mr. Kumar wanted to establish Ghazwa-e-Hind in Bihar.
In the examination conducted on Thursday, five of the 10 two-mark short answer questions were related to Islam. So were two of five long answer questions (five marks).
Some of these questions were: What is Iftar? At what time is the fast broken and, what is called Fitra? Name the dishes cooked during Eid. What kind of festival is Eid, what happens in Eid? What message does the festival of Eid give?
Slamming the Bihar government, Mr. Singh said, “People say that Giriraj Singh always does Hindu-Muslim politics which is not true. Whenever there would be an attack on Hindu and Sanatan Dharma, then I will keep raising my voice till the last drop of the blood in my body. It seems we are living in Islamic State. The question of the Sanskrit exam was shocking. Ten questions were asked on Islamic and it proves that Bihar is on the path of Islamisation in the regime of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.”
Mr. Singh appealed to the people of all castes to raise their voice against this ‘agenda’, claiming that the time was not far away when offering namaz would be made mandatory for everyone.
“I am appealing to all the castes of Hindu religion, be it Brahmin, Yadav, Rajput, Bhumihar, backward or forward to protest against this move. If there would be no collective protest, then that day is not far when this government will ask everyone to offer namaz at least one time to understand Islam. First Nitish Kumar should offer namaz and not force this to anyone else. Nitish Kumar is doing Islamisation of Sanskrit, he wants to establish Ghazwa-e-Hind in Bihar,” Mr. Singh claimed.
Senior Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and general secretary of the party Shyam Rajak hit back at Mr. Singh accusing him of doing politics in the name of Hindus and Muslims.
“Narendra Modi ji has made him Minister and he is always engaged in Hindu-Muslim politics, more than the work related to his department. The country cannot run on Hindus and Muslims, India is the country where all religions are equal. For him, Muslim means Pakistan. Not all Hindus are patriots. I don’t want to name anyone but there are many Hindus who hatched conspiracy against our country,” Mr. Rajak said.
Congress spokesperson Asit Nath Tiwari too slammed Mr. Singh for his statement, claiming that language does not have anything to do with religion.
“People living in Bhojpur regions, be it Hindu or Muslims, speak Bhojpuri; similarly, people living in Mithilanchal regions, be it Hindus or Muslims, speak Magahi language. He has hatred filled in his mind, that’s why he sees everything from Hindu-Muslims point of view,” Mr. Tiwari said.
Earlier, the BJP had labelled the State government “anti-Hindu” for trimming the Hindu festival in the schools.
