Janata Dal United (JDU) MP from Sitamarhi, Devesh Chandra Thakur, triggered a political storm on Monday by asserting that he would not work for Muslims and Yadavs because they did not vote for him in the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections.

Various political parties and people slammed the divisive remarks while the JDU rushed to defend him and bring the situation under control. His statements caused a rift among BJP leaders. He later modified his comments by asserting that he “will not do the personal work of the Muslims and Yadavs, but public works will happen”.

Thakur, who recently resigned from the position of the chairman of the Bihar Legislative Council, after getting elected to the Lok Sabha, is considered close to chief minister and JDU national president Nitish Kumar.

He made the controversial statements at a public function to welcome him during his visit to Sitamarhi on Sunday. They came to light on Monday as videos of his speech at the gathering got circulated all around.

“You would have seen the face of Narendra Modi had you pressed the arrow symbol for me. If this is so why should not I see lantern symbol and Lalu ji’s face on you while doing your work?” Thakur said amid peels of laughter.

Thakur pointed out that he personally did much work for the Muslims and Yadavs, but would not do so any longer because they did not vote for him. He added that he went through the polling booth data and found out that hardly one per cent of them voted for him.

“I am saying this for the first time in my life of 70 years, and saying with much sadness. Everybody is welcome to my place. Muslims and Yadavs who are not my friends or come to me for the first time are also welcome. Please come and have tea and sweets, but do not talk about work, because I will not do your work,” Thakur added as the audience clapped.

The Sitamarhi MP also narrated that a gentleman hailing from the Muslim community came to meet him on Saturday for the first time for some work.

“I asked him that he must have voted for the lantern symbol. He replied in the affirmative. I then asked him how he still mustered the courage to come to me. He became afraid. I pointed out to him that he had come for the first time so I won’t say much, otherwise I do not spare anybody. I told him that I would fetch some tea and sweets and bid him goodbye, but will not do his work,” Thakur added.

Not stopping at this, the MP asserted that the Muslims and Yadavs did not vote for him because the JDU was a part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and was associated with the BJP.

“Such things pain me. Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not differentiate among the people when he brought the scheme of free food grains or Covid vaccination,” he added.

The Sitamarhi MP also criticised casteism and the division in NDA votes, especially those belonging to the Kushwaha, Suri and Kalwar castes. He pointed out that the Kushwahas did not vote for the NDA because the INDIA bloc had given tickets to seven Kushwaha candidates.

Thakur defeated the RJD’s Arjun Rai by over 51,000 votes in a tightly contested election. The margin was much less in comparison to the 2019 Lok Sabha poll in Sitamarhi, in which JDU’s Sunil Kumar Pintu had defeated the same RJD candidate by around 2.5 lakh votes.

The RJD slammed Thakur and demanded that he withdraw his statements and tender an apology.

“These are highly inappropriate remarks and unbecoming for a public representative. They are against the Constitution. He should withdraw them and apologise to the people,” RJD spokesperson Mritunjay Tiwari said.