"Who Doesn't Know Jaichand": BJP Uses Tej Pratap's Post To Slam Lalu Yadav

The BJP in Bihar has latched on to Lalu Prasad Yadav's elder son Tej Pratap's "Jaichand" posts to target the RJD patriarch as the tempo for the Bihar Assembly election rises. The BJP Bihar handle on X first posted a teaser that there is discussion about "Jaichand" these days and assured they would reply who "Jaichand" is.

A 12th-century king of Gahadavala dynasty, Jaichand was portrayed in epic poem Prithviraj Raso as a traitor who allied with foreign powers against Prithivraj Chauhan. The term 'Jaichand' has now become synonymous with traitor.

In a post addressed to father Lalu Prasad and mother Rabri Devi, Tej Pratap yesterday posted on X that he just wanted his parents' love and trust. He also said some "greedy people like Jaichand" were playing politics with him. Lalu Prasad has expelled Tej Pratap from the party for six years amid the chatter over a now-deleted Facebook post. In another post, Tej Pratap warned his younger brother, Tejashwi Yadav, of "Jaichands" everywhere and said they were trying to separate the brothers. He assured his brother that he was always with him. 

Latching on to the posts, Bihar BJP today accused the RJD founder of betraying Jayaprakash Narayan, who led the agitation against the Emergency and former Bihar Chief Minister and socialist ideologue Karpoori Thakur. "Who doesn't know Bihar's Jaichand who betrayed JP and Karpoori Thakur ji and held Congress's hand. Do we need to say, or do you get it?"

"Who doesn't know Bihar's Jaichand who cheated leaders of the socialist revolution and pushed Bihar to ruin?" Bihar BJP added in another post.

Tej Pratap was expelled over a now-deleted Facebook photograph in which he was seen with a woman. The post identified the woman as Anushka Yadav and said she and Tej Pratap were in a relationship for 12 years. "I am Tej Pratap Yadav and the girl seen with me in this picture is Anushka Yadav. We have known each other for the last 12 years and love each other deeply. We have been in a relationship throughout these years. I wanted to share this with all of you for a long time, but couldn't find the right words. Today, through this post, I am opening my heart to you. I hope you all will understand," it read.

The post went viral and started a chatter, as people asked why Tej Pratap married in 2018 if he was in a relationship. The RJD leader married Aishwarya Rai, daughter of political heavyweight Chandrika Rai, in 2018. The couple separated months later and a divorce case is on.

Amid this chatter, Tej Pratap claimed his profile had been hacked. "My social media platform was hacked and my photographs were edited wrongfully," he wrote on X.

The damage control did not work and the next day, Lalu Yadav announced the decision to expel Tej Pratap from the party. He said "ignoring moral values" in personal life weakens the community's struggle for social justice. "The elder son's activities, public behaviour and irresponsible conduct are not in line with our family's values. In the current circumstances, I remove him from the party and the family. From now on, he will have no role in the party and the family. He has been expelled from the party for six years," he said.