Rashtriya Janata Dal chief and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad on Wednesday said the country was heading towards a civil war under the Bhartiya Janata Party-led dispensation in the country.

Prasad, who returned to Patna from New Delhi on Tuesday, was responding a question about the raging hijab row in Karnataka during a press conference at his 10 Circular Road residence.

“This country is heading towards a civil war. If that happens, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government will be responsible . This should not be treated as an election issue. There are so many issues like unemployment, inflation but they (read BJP) are only talking about Ayodhya , Mathura and Varanasi .They think it will fetch votes of Hindus,” he said. “The British left 70 years back. But once again, we have witnessed its return in the form of BJP. This party only believes in stoking communal tension and riots,” Prasad said.

The ailing RJD chief, who is here to attend his party’s national executive on February 10, said BJP was bound to lose the assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh. “Jats have not forgotten how they were harassed during the farmers’ agitation and insulted. Their support is crucial for formation of government in both UP and Haryana,” he said.

On Council polls

Prasad said his party had taken the right decision in not striking an alliance with Congress for the upcoming polls for 24 Legislative Council seats in Bihar, saying their alliance in the 2020 assembly polls had led to debacle for the RJD-led grand alliance.

“Why should we give seats to Congress? They have no votes. In 2020 elections, we had given 70 seats and they lost a big number of seats, leading to our defeat,” he said.

Later in the evening, Prasad was seen sitting with his two sons, elder son Tej Pratap Yadav and younger son and leader of the opposition Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, at his bungalow while holding a meeting with party workers ahead of the national executive meeting on Thursday.

In October last year, Tej Pratap had refused to enter the bungalow when Prasad had returned to Patna after a gap of three-and-a-half years following his release from jail in April 2020.

The RJD chief also took a dig at chief minister Nitish Kumar, saying his bid to run a sustained campaign on the demand for special status category for Bihar had come a cropper as BJP was now trying to shy away from the issue. “While the special status demand was made during our government ( RJD rule), the chief minister created a big hype by launching a signature campaign. Has Bihar got the special status? BJP is only befooling the people,” he said.