Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, who once described Narendra Modi's refusal to wear the skullcap as an affront to the Muslim community, apparently made a similar refusal himself on Thursday.
At an event of the Bihar State Madrasa Education Board, Nitish Kumar was offered a cap usually worn by Muslims. But he resisted the offering, smiling and pushing back with both hands.
The JDU leader, who has been pictured wearing such caps at Muslim events several times in the past, eventually took it into his hands. And then he placed it onto the head of his party colleague and minority welfare minister Mohammed Zama Khan.
News agency ANI shared the video clip of the back-and-forth. That post was later deleted. But other videos of the moment went viral on X.
Nitish Kumar's jibes at Modi over the cap were made 12 years ago, when the BJP leader was not yet PM; and Nitish opposed him over his alleged communal politics.
Much has changed in between, with Nitish Kumar's 180-degree turn, or full circle, depending on where you start looking at his political journey so far. Once a minister in the BJP-led NDA government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Nitish parted ways with the NDA as he did not agree with Modi becoming the leader. He cited the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat, when Modi was CM, as a reason.
In 2013, at the height of the Lok Sabha election campaign, Nitish stressed that a leader of India must wear both "topi" and "tilak" (symbols of Muslim and Hindu communities). He did not name anyone then, but it was an apparent reference to then-CM Narendra Modi's refusal to wear a cap offered by a Muslim cleric.
By 2017, three years into Modi having become PM, Nitish returned to the NDA fold. In between, Nitish had won the 2015 Bihar assembly election in alliance with the RJD and Congress.
After winning the 2020 state polls with the BJP, he left the alliance again in 2022; and then returned in 2024. For now, the JDU and BJP remain together in fighting the 2025 Bihar assembly election due in October-November.
At the madrasa board event on Thursday, Nitish Kumar listed several measures taken for the Muslim community.
“Muslim women who are abandoned by their husbands face hardships…to support and improve the condition of such Muslim women, the state government started financial assistance of ₹10,000 per month in 2007. This amount has now been increased to ₹25,000 per month,” he was quoted as saying by PTI.
He claimed that, before 2005, no work was done for the Muslim community. "Since 2006, the process of fencing graveyards has been initiated. A large number of graveyards have already been fenced, and now there are no such conflicts," he said.
"Madrasas were registered and granted government recognition. Now, madrasa teachers are getting salaries equal to those of government school teachers," he noted.
He added, “We have worked for the development of all sections of society — including Hindu, Muslim, Upper Caste, backward, extremely backward, Dalit, or Mahadalit… Opponents speak unnecessarily, but it holds no meaning. We stay focused on our work.”
