"Cussed My Dead Mother": Lalu Yadav's Party Leader Reports Crank Call

A veteran socialist leader from Bihar Shivanand Tiwary was on Sunday allegedly abused and threatened over the phone by an anonymous caller who took umbrage over his statement on VD Savarkar to a media outlet.

Mr Tiwary, who is a national vice president of Lalu Prasad's RJD, had underscored the inherent contradiction in Sangh Parivar's reverence for VD Savarkar, whose views on cow went against the grain of popular Hindu sentiment.

In the video footage less than two minutes long, Mr Tiwary had highlighted VD Savarkar's disgust over the concept of "gau mata" that seeks to hold the animal sacred and exalts it to the status of the "mother" of mankind.

The septuagenarian, who has worked closely with socialist thinkers like Jayaprakash Narayan and Ram Manohar Lohia, had thereby sought to question phenomena like cow vigilantism which remain in the news and supporters of which tend to be, largely, sympathetic towards the BJP and its parent organisation RSS.

After receiving the call "by someone whose accent suggested he was from Delhi, Haryana or western Uttar Pradesh", Mr Tiwary shared the episode with the media along with the response he sent via text message to the caller on WhatsApp.

"I am not filing a police complaint. That is beside the point. But my experience is a grim reminder of the perils of communalising the society", he said.

"I have said in my message to the caller that I am 78 years of age and his cuss words were aimed at my mother who had breathed her last decades ago. I have advised the caller to ponder over his act and do some 'prayashchit' (repentance)", said the former Rajya Sabha MP.

He also said he spoke after the media outlet sought his comments over some views expressed about VD Savarkar by senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh.

Mr Tiwary also deplored the alleged hate speeches by religious leaders at a "Dharm Sansad" in Haridwar and wondered whether the Narendra Modi government was unwilling to take note and act.

Meanwhile, in a statement, state RJD spokesman Chitaranjan Gagan urged the Bihar Police to act, taking "suo motu cognizance" of the call received by the leader.