Asked my children to settle abroad as atmosphere is not good in country, says senior RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui

The Opposition BJP fumed over Abdul Bari Siddqui’s statement and asked “him to go to Pakistan with family”

A video showing senior Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader and former Minister Abdul Bari Siddiqui, saying that he has asked his two children to settle abroad because the “atmosphere of the country is not good”, has gone viral on social media. The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) fumed over Mr. Siddqui’s statement and asked “him to go to Pakistan with family”.

“The atmosphere in India has been such that I’ve asked my two children, a son who is studying in Harvard University and daughter who has passed out of London School of Economics, to take up jobs there and if possible, get citizenship there… don’t know whether they (children) will be able to bear the atmosphere here,” Mr. Siddiqui says in the video.

He adds, “You all can understand how painful it is when a father says such things to his children”. He was reportedly speaking at an event held at the State Council Hall in honour of newly elected chairman of the State Upper House Devesh Chandra Thakur on December 17.

Mr. Siddqui is a senior RJD leader who has served as Minister on many ocassions and as Leader of Opposition in 2010. He was also State president of RJD in 2007 and said to be very close to party president Lalu Prasad Yadav.

Mr. Siddiqui’s statement invited sharp criticism from BJP. State BJP spokesperson and national general secretary of the party’s Other Backward Class (OBC) Morcha, Nikhil Anand said, “People like Siddiqui run anti-national and religious agenda under secular liberal mask. These people have still not been able to get out of madarsa-like ghetto culture. The person who does not have faith in the nation and its constitution is definitely a traitor... it would be better if Mr. Siddiqui and his family go to Pakistan.” Mr. Anand further said, “Siddiqui is living in India and eating out of India’s plate but singing the tunes of fundamentalists and crying as a victim.”