Hena Shahab and Osama Shahab, wife and son of Mohammad Shahabuddin respectively are joining RJD. All this has attracted huge flak at NDA. Leaders within Jan Suraaj party are criticizing Lalu Prasad Yadav and his son Tejashwi Yadav.
It is a re-emergence of 'Jungle Raj', which epitomized the state's law-and-order problems in earlier RJD governments," said BJP spokesman Niraj Kumar.
"Shahabuddin, an ex MP who is a turncoat criminal, symbolizes the legacy Bihar wants to reject. Tejashwi Yadav had given Shahabuddin's family a place in the RJD. It means he had given more importance to political gains rather than the feelings of people. Hena Shahab was defeated numerous times in polls," Kumar said.
The induction of Shahabuddin's family into the RJD underlines a political move that has intensified debates over Bihar's future and its leadership, with NDA leaders reaffirming their stance that the state should not return to past eras of instability and violence.
Prashant Kishor also criticized the RJD, following the induction of Hena Shahab and Osama Shahab into the party.
He also added that although RJD projects itself as a champion of Muslims in Bihar, it has failed to present Muslims genuinely.
It brought a family to the party, but did not give enough participation in the election. While the RJD did not field a single Muslim candidate for the ongoing bye-elections, the Jan Suraaj Party endorsed a Muslim candidate for the Belaganj constituency. The RJD created fear among the Muslim electorate about the BJP, yet did not provide them proportionate representation in politics," said Kishor.
Kishor compared a Muslim community as kerosene in a lantern wherein the RJD could gather the benefits, yet "did not use" Muslim youth as fuel. At the same time, it promised that Muslim youths were to be made good beneficiaries of the Jan Suraaj Party by honing talents and resources for participation.
Hena Shahab and Osama Shahab joined the RJD in the presence of party's National President Lalu Prasad Yadav and Tejashwi Yadav, marking a big, though complicated, political alignment.
Shahabuddin, Hena's late husband, was a founding member of the RJD, but after his death, neither Lalu nor Tejashwi attended his burial which strained ties between the two families.
Hena Shahab had contested previous elections as an independent candidate but did not win.
This seems to be a win-win situation, as Lalu Prasad Yadav wants to garner more Muslim support for the RJD, and Hena Shahab wants political mileage under the already established framework of the party.
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