PATNA: Senior Janata Dal (United) leader and Bihar rural works minister Ashok Choudhary on Tuesday found himself in the thick of a controversy that erupted after he ‘retweeted’ a Hindi poem, seen as a direct attack on the chief minister and party national president Nitish Kumar.
The opening lines of the long poem roughly translated into English as “Leave them as they grow older... If somebody does not understand even if you explain to him once or twice, leave explaining to him.”
Choudhary’s poem attracted a sharp reaction from his party colleague and spokesperson Neeraj Kumar who launched a blistering attack on the former.
When a media person asked whether Choudhary was targeting Nitish through his poem, Neeraj hit back and asserted, “Who can train a gun on Nitish? Nitish lives in the hearts of people and has been chief minister of Bihar for the last 19 years, facing no anti-incumbency. Nitish has established himself as a global thinker and climate leader. No one can question his credibility. It is impossible, He is not only the identity of JD (U) but also people of Bihar. Those who will target Nitish should also be ready to listen to the reply.”
Choudhary was called over to the CM's residence a few hours after he posted his poem titled ‘Badhti Umr main inhe chor dijiye’. Choudhary remained inside residence for about one and a half hours. He didn’t talk to the media after coming out the house. What transpired between them could not be immediately known but it is believed that CM Nitish was not happy with Choudhary’s social media post.
Choudhary, however, later explained that it was personal and nothing political. “It has no political meaning. A friend has forwarded it to me last night which I simply reposted it on my social media account. That's all,” he said, adding that he posted it as he liked the poem, which talked about children of these days ignoring their old ones.
In response to a media query whether he meant to say something about Nitish Kumar, Choudhary asked why he would attack his own leader who gave so much of love and respect in the party. “It was Nitish Kumar who made me minister even though I was not a member of any of the Houses,” he asserted.