The JD(U) has distanced itself from controversial remarks made by Assam BJP minister Ashok Singhal following the NDA victory in Bihar, seen as hinting at the 1989 Bhagalpur riots in the state.
On the afternoon of November 14, while the Bihar Assembly poll results were trickling in, Singhal, who holds the portfolios of Minister of Health & Family Welfare and of Irrigation in Assam, posted on his X handle: “Bihar approves gobi farming.” The post was seen as a reference to the Bhagalpur riots and a bid to conceal evidence regarding the massacre of Muslims in Logain village.
JD(U) chief spokesperson Neeraj Kumar told The Indian Express: “Though the one-line X post by Singhal does not explain any context, let us make it clear that 14 people were convicted in the 1989 Bhagalpur riots case only after the Nitish Kumar government reopened the cases. Our government also set up a commission that recommended compensation and pension (for the victims)… Our government stands for social cohesion and camaraderie.”
The JD(U), which has been in an alliance with the BJP barring short periods of break, has ensured its partner toes its line on minority issues in Bihar.
Senior Assam Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi called Singhal’s post “a shocking new low in political discourse”. “To invoke such a tragedy in this manner shows how far some are willing to descend in public life… This mindset is promoted by his boss (Assam) Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. The Chief Minister has a hatred for Indian minorities.”
This is not the first brush with controversy for Singhal, a businessman involved in real estate, who has had a longer association with the BJP in Assam than many of his Cabinet colleagues, including CM Sarma. While most of the current crop of leaders at the forefront of the Assam BJP have joined the party in the last decade, after crossing over from other parties, Singhal contested on the BJP ticket as early as 2006, though unsuccessfully, from Gauhati West.
After losing from the same seat in 2011 as well, while contesting as an Independent, Singhal saw his political star rise with the 2016 election, when the BJP came to power for the first time in Assam. He won on the party ticket from the Dhekiajuli constituency in North Assam, and after he was re-elected from the seat in 2021 and Sarma became CM, was inducted as minister.
Singhal’s Marwari identity makes him a rarity in the Cabinet, and the “outsider” tag against him has been invoked multiple times by Opposition politicians, including recently by Raijor Dol MLA Akhil Gogoi and by veteran BJP leader Rajen Gohain, when he resigned from the party.
Earlier this year, Singhal had stirred a controversy for statements made at an event in Dhekiajuli, where he could be heard telling people not to allow ‘miyas’ – a pejorative term used to refer to Bengali-origin Muslims in Assam – to set up shops at the event. AIUDF MLAs had demanded a breach of privilege motion against him.
Ahead of this year’s Delhi Assembly elections, Singhal had posted a well-known photo from the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots, of the body of Intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma. with the text, “Dear Hindus, remember Ankit Sharma when you vote today.”
On the day of the Pahalgam attack in April this year, he wrote, “Repeat after me: Terror Has Only One Religion!” He has also on multiple occasions shared AI-generated images linking Congress leaders with Pakistan, such as a photo of Assam Congress president Gaurav Gogoi wearing a Pakistan Army uniform and Rahul Gandhi receiving a medal from Pakistan Army Chief of Staff Asim Munir.
The gobi reference is linked to the attack by a 4,000-strong mob on Muslims in Logain village of Bhagalpur on October 27, 1989, three days after the Bhagalpur riots started, leaving 116 dead. The perpetrators were accused of burying the bodies in fields and planting cauliflower and cabbage saplings over the mass grave to hide the evidence.
The Logain massacre, which happened under a Congress government in Bihar, was unearthed only 25 days later, by the then Bhagalpur additional district magistrate, after he visited the Babura village nearby and heard about vultures hovering around cauliflower fields.
The Bhagalpur riots, which lasted nearly two months, resulted in over 1,000 deaths, mostly of Muslims, and displaced around 50,000 people.
In 2007, 18 years after the Logain incident and two years after Nitish Kumar took over as CM, 14 people, including former police officer Ramchander Singh were convicted and sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment for their role. Overall 38 people were sentenced for the Bhagalpur riots.