Bihar politicians use social media to connect

PATNA: Bihar's top politicians are not only hopping from place to place to campaign for their party candidates but also using social media to berate their rivals and promote their issues. 

CM Nitish Kumar and his former deputy, Sushil Kumar Modi, are engaged in a virtual war of social media posts. RJD chief Lalu Prasad has also joined the web war, but posts comments occasionally. 

Nitish, in his post on Saturday, urged people to vote for JD (U) and promised his party would help in the formation of a strong government at Centre or play the role of a responsible opposition. 

"In any case, we will be a strong voice of Bihar and will fight for its rights. (The development of) Bihar will catch momentum when a Bihar's party has strong presence in Delhi," he said while replying to the propaganda that voting for JD (U) was of no use as it was not going to form the government. 

Replying to the charge of being arrogant levelled by BJP's PM candidate Narendra Modi, the Bihar CM in his post on Facebook said, "I am proud to be a Bihari and an Indian. Those who see Biharis' self-respect as arrogance should better see the mirror." 

Nitish also tells his followers on social media what is arrogance. "Failing to stop mayhem is arrogance. The one, who apologizes to people on reaching three hours behind schedule at election meetings, is yet to reach thousands of riot victims in 12 years. This is arrogance. And the one who was chided by great leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee for not following 'Raj Dharma' is levelling terror charge against Bihar out of arrogance." 

Reacting to Nitish's posts, BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi posted a story of an arrogant cat. "The lion was the king but the arrogant cat thought she was the queen even though she had influence only in few lanes. After consuming few rats, the cat considered herself to be strong enough to take on the lion and rule the jungle. Time came when the lion was in front of the cat. On hearing the roars, the cat was terrified and the ground slipped from under her feet. People told the cat that dreaming was fine but arrogance would destroy her," he wrote. 

"It's better for the cat to accept the defeat in the wake of the lion's march to Delhi and admit even half-heartedly 'abki bar Modi sarkar','' the BJP leader concluded. 

Prasad, in his recent posts on Facebook and Twitter, said one could hail him or hate him but one could not ignore him in politics. In his inimitable style, Lalu tweeted, "Ham jab jail gayle ta vipakshi sab kahat raha Lalu ab gayle-gayle. Arre Lalu kahan gayle, phir aa gayle (When I went to jail, the opposition leaders were saying Lalu is gone. Lalu has come again)." 

In another post, he said, "Some say Lalu has become weak. Lalu ne karia bhains ka doodh piya hai, ek hi dhakka mein kaisano ke kabari deb (Lalu consumed the milk of black buffalo and will uproot anybody in just one push)." He added, "I am a JCB machine who could uproot the communal forces."