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Nishtha Anushree
Sep 27, 2023, 01:00 PM | Updated 01:06 PM IST
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While strongly opposing the statement of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha targeting upper castes in the Rajya Sabha, party MLA Chetan Anand posted on X, "Hum "thakur" hain" (we are Thakurs).
Chetan Anand is the son of a former Bihar legislator Anand Mohan Singh whose early release in the murder case of a public servant by the JD(U)-RJD government was in controversy earlier this year.
"We Thakurs keep everyone together. Targeting a single caste in the name of socialism is nothing but hypocrisy. When we can't hear bad about others, then we won't tolerate derogatory comments about ourselves," Chetan Anand wrote on X.
Sheohar MLA affirmed that he strongly opposes the thoughts of "Honourable MP Shri Manoj Jha". Jha recited a poem by Omprakash Valmiki in Parliament on 21 September during the discussion on the Women's Reservation Bill.
Anand Mohan too came out in support of his son's statement and said, "Those who advocate killing the Thakur within themselves, I would suggest they first eliminate the Brahmin within them."
The former MP stated, 'When the debate on the Women's Reservation Bill was ongoing, how the Thakur element came into play. Those who ask to kill the Thakur within themselves, who are sitting in the legislature, in the judiciary, in the parliament. I would tell them to first eliminate the Brahmin within themselves, which governs the entire country. It is necessary to eradicate that mentality.'"
Jha read the poem, 'Thakur ka Kuan,' in its entirety in Parliament. After reciting the poem, he said that the poem is centered on oppression by the privileged ones. The BJP had openly opposed Jha's statement in Parliament.
Nishtha Anushree is Senior Sub-editor at Swarajya. She tweets at @nishthaanushree.