Prashant Kishor on Waqf Bill: 'History will blame Nitish Kumar more than BJP'

Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor. (PTI)

Jan Suraaj Party chief Prashant Kishor on Wednesday openly came out against the Waqf Amendment Bill and said that the BJP-led government at the Centre was rushing the legislation through in order to spark a political divide and took special exception to the stand adopted by the Janata Dal (United) led by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

A political strategist-turned-politician, Kishor said the Bill was being pushed through without taking the affected communities into consideration. "A large section of Muslims are feeling threatened by the Waqf Bill. I feel that the Government is forming this law in haste for the politics of polarization," he told news agency ANI.

Kishor further pointed out that the BJP does not have a majority in Lok Sabha and that the government had been able to bring the Waqf Bill banking on support from alliance partners including the Nitish-led JD(U).

"They are able to bring this law because people like Nitish Kumar are supporting the Government; if leaders like Nitish Kumar do not vote in support of this Bill in Lok Sabha, then the government can never make this a law," Kishor pointed out.

Kishor further said that while the BJP doesn't consider Muslims their vote bank, leaders like Nitish Kumar should refrain from talking about the welfare of Muslims on one hand and then backing laws to harm the community on the other.

"BJP doesn't consider Muslims their vote bank...but people like Nitish Kumar who tell Muslims every day that they are the well-wishers of the community, should definitely think whether or not they are showing their hypocrisy by voting in support of this Bill even when they speak of Gandhi, Lohia and JP?" Kishor said.

"When this era is written in history, the blame for this law will be more on leaders like Nitish Kumar than the BJP," Kishor further said.

The remarks by Kishor, the former JD(U) vice-president, come on a day when the Waqf Bill is being discussed in the Lok Sabha.

Last week, Kishor also participated in a protest against the Waqf Amendment Bill organized by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board in Patna. Kishor's Jan Suraaj is hoping to make a mark in the Bihar Assembly elections set to be held later this year and has been positioning itself among Muslim voters as an alternative to the RJD.

Kishor has claimed that Muslims vote for RJD out of fear of the BJP and accused Nitish Kumar's JD(U) of betraying them.