Country belongs to all: JD(U) on Adityanath's 'abba jaan' remark

New Delhi: With "abba jaan" remarks of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath stoking a row, JD(U) president Lalan Singh said on Tuesday that political parties should maintain "restraint" in their comments, asserting that the country belongs to everyone, be it any religion.

"Terms like "unity in diversity" are used for our country. The country belongs to all. No remarks should be made that harm the country," said Singh, who is a confidant of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

In this context, he also took a swipe at JMM leader and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren for his remarks allegedly aimed at Bhojpuri and Magahi-speaking people of the state. Everybody has a right to settle in whichever part of the country they like, Singh said.

Joining the bandwagon of those calling out the UP CM for his recent controversial remark, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav said that Yogi Adityanath should talk about the people who say 'pita jaan'. "How many of them have been given employment or education?" Yadav asked in a video he shared on Twitter.

Addressing a programme in Kushinagar on Sunday, Adityanath had alleged that people did not get rations before 2017 like they do now.

"Because then, people who say "abba jaan" used to digest the rations. The rations of Kushinagar used to go to Nepal and Bangladesh. Today, if anybody tries to swallow the rations meant for poor people, he will land in jail," the CM had said.

The JD(U) president has also played down the decision of his party to send its senior leader KC Tyagi to a rally being organised in Jind on September 25 by INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala.