RLSP chief Upendra Kushwaha attempts to sweeten kheer with 'paigam'

Union minister and Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) chief Upendra Kushwaha on Tuesday attempted to elevate his “kheer theory” to a new level by launching the Paigam-e-kheer programme “to spread the message of social justice” ahead of the 2019 general election.

Around a month ago, Kushwaha had stirred the hornet’s nest when he had given a recipe for kheer and said, “If you mix the milk procured from Yaduvanshis (Yadav) and the rice produced by Kushvanshis (Koeris), you can make a nice ‘kheer’ (a popular dessert made of rice). But, if you add the ‘panchmeva’ (dry fruits) of backward and exploited castes, and eat it on a ‘dastarkh?n” provided by Muslims, the taste becomes delicious.”

Later, after the Rashtriya Janata Dal too had agreed to his kheer recipe and were assumed to be “hints of political realignments”, he clarified that “kheer” was a euphemism for “social justice”.

On Tuesday, Kushwaha launched the “Paigam-e-kheer” programme by cooking and consuming kheer to ensure that “all sections of the society received their due rights”.

“The purpose of the programme is to take everyone together while moving forward. Apart from the milk, rice and dry fruits, there is sugar from the Brahmin community and sacred Tulsi leaves from Dalit homes. We all are sitting on a dastarkh?n brought by our Muslim brethren,” he said.

Kushwaha added that the message of the programme was of social justice. “Everyone is equal in society. Anything can be created only when everyone contributes towards it and when it comes to division of resources, it should neither be less not more than their due rights,” he said. Though Kushwaha termed it a to be “non-political event”, other state leaders claimed only time would tell whom Kushwaha sent the “kheer paigam”.

Sources also said RLSP leaders will take the programme to villages as an outreach strategy and “to spread the message of equality and social justice.”