By PTI
PATNA: The move by Delhi Police to replace Asoka pillar with the India Gate as its logo is “yet another conspiracy” to demean the legendary Maurya emperor, senior JD(U) leader Upendra Kushwaha alleged on Wednesday.
A key political aide of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Kushwaha has been in the headlines for aggressive posturing on alleged denigration of the legendary ruler of Magadh, who is seen as an OBC icon as his grandfather Chandragupta, the founder of Maurya dynasty, was born in a family of poor shepherds.
The JD(U) parliamentary board chief shared a news item about the Delhi Police decision on his Twitter handle and sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Notably, the Delhi Police reports to the Union Ministry for Home Affairs.
“This is yet another conspiracy to erase Asoka the Great from history,” Kushwaha, a former Union minister, tweeted in Hindi, tagging Modi and Shah.
Earlier, last month, Kushwaha had kept political temperature high by relentless attacks on playwright Daya Prakash Sinha after he was chosen for Sahitya Akademi Award.
Taking strong exception to Sinha’s contention that Asoka, extolled as an upholder of religious pluralism, shared many similarities with Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, who ruled many centuries later and is perceived to have been a bigot.
Kushwaha’s allegation that Sinha had links with the BJP irked the saffron party and its Bihar unit chief lodged a complaint against the dramatist in a bid to refute the JD(U) leader’s charge.
Kushwaha, who last year merged his RLSP with JD(U) and whose return to the party is seen as Nitish Kumar’s attempt to maintain his grip over Kurmi-Koeri vote base, seems to have chosen to keep the pot boiling.
