Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Bihar president Dilip Jaiswal addresses a press conference at the party office in Patna on Thursday.
| Photo Credit: ANI

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Bihar president Dilip Kumar Jaiswal on Thursday (April 3, 2025) took a dig at Rashtriya Janata Dal leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav for his opposition to the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, saying Mr. Yadav built his political career on the foundation laid by his father Lalu Prasad.

Mr. Jaiswal, while addressing the media at the party office in Patna, asserted that Mr. Yadav “was born with a silver spoon”.

Referring to a purported video of Mr. Prasad in which he allegedly demands a strict Waqf law, Mr. Jaiswal said, “Tejashwi has no identity without Lalu. My father was an ordinary man, yet the BJP made me the State president.”

Several Bihar BJP leaders had posted the video on their social media accounts. In one of the speeches in 2010, Mr. Prasad is heard saying in the Parliament, “A very strict law should be made. All the lands have been usurped. All property of the Dak Bungalow in Patna has been converted into apartments. Bring it forward, we will pass your amendment.”

Quoting a Hindi proverb, Mr. Jaiswal said the viral video of the RJD supremo showed that some people “have different teeth for eating and showing”.

“Confusion is being spread, when Lalu ji was giving a speech on Waqf in 2010, Sonia Gandhi was also present in the House. I come from Kishanganj, where there are the most sensible Muslims. People of the Muslim community vote for me and I win the election in the month of Ramzan,” Mr. Jaiswal said.

He added that the Bill ensures Waqf assets are managed in a better way and money “won’t go into the pockets of a few people” now. He further said that there was no transparency earlier but after the amendment, the income earned by such properties will increase and they will earn more than “₹12,000 crore”.

Mr. Jaiswal said that Sachar Committee report in 2006 had also pointed out the need for efficient management of Waqf assets.

“After this Bill becomes a law, there will be financial transparency and revenue will also increase, and dependence on government assistance will be less,” Mr. Jaiswal said.

Sharing the details of the BJP’s Foundation Day celebration on April 6, Mr. Jaiswal said several programmes will be organised from the State level to booth-level.

“BJP will celebrate Ram Navami as well as the party’s Foundation Day. All the district office buildings of the party will be decorated and an exhibition will be organised showcasing the struggles and work done by BJP from the Jan Sangh era,” Mr. Jaiswal said.

Keeping the Assembly election in mind, he announced that on April 8 and 9, a conference of active members will be organised in all 243 assembly constituencies in which more than 1.57 lakh active members will participate.

A Gaon-Basti Chalo (Let’s go the villages) campaign will be carried out between April 10 and 12 in which all MLAs will participate and every worker will visit a village or mohalla for at least eight hours, he said.

Mr. Jaiswal further said the purpose is to take the ideology of the party to every house and provide information about the development work done by the government.