New Delhi:
In the raging politics over beef after a mob killing in Uttar Pradesh last week, Bihar politician Lalu Prasad Yadav has responded to yoga teacher Ramdev's dig by resurrecting an old allegation against him.
"Ramdev himself faced allegations that he used animal bones in his medicines," Mr Prasad snapped when asked to respond to the yoga teacher calling him a descendant of "Kans", the fictional villain who was killed by Hindu god Krishna.
Ramdev had used the name while tearing into Lalu Prasad for his comments on the beef controversy.
"Don't Hindus eat beef too? It is the poor who are forced to eat beef. People eat (beef) outside the country too. What difference does it make?" Mr Prasad had said.
Ramdev, who is close to the ruling BJP and has campaigned for the party in polls, said Mr Prasad had betrayed his own Yadav community, believed to be descendants of Krishna.
"By saying that Hindus also eat beef, Lalu Yadav has insulted Yaduvansh (Krishna's lineage). He says he is a Yadav but he cannot claim to be a Yaduvanshi. Such a person can be a descendant of Kans, not Krishna," said the yoga teacher.
Ramdev has in the past denied allegations that human and animal bones are used in the natural remedies sold by his Patanjali company. "The accusations are absolutely baseless, false and unfounded," he had said in 2006.
Politics over beef took centre-stage after a mob in Uttar Pradesh's Dadri lynched a Muslim man over rumours that he had killed a calf and stored beef in his house.
Ahead of next week's election in Bihar, the incident has taken on a political twist.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who has joined hands with Lalu Prasad and the Congress in an anti-BJP alliance for the polls, accuses the BJP of trying to "import" the beef controversy into the state to polarize voters.