A minister in the Himanta Biswa Sarma cabinet celebrated a significant NDA victory in Bihar in the middle of Friday afternoon with a cauliflower post, a somber reminder of the 1989 Bhagalpur massacre that claimed many Muslim lives.
Ashok Singhal, the Assam Minister of Health & Family Welfare and Irrigation Department, wrote on X, “Bihar approves Gobi farming,” along with a picture of a verdant cauliflower field.
Bihar approves Gobi farming ✅ pic.twitter.com/SubrTQ0Mu5
— Ashok Singhal (@TheAshokSinghal) November 14, 2025
The post initially looked out of place, like a square peg in a round hole. A second look was necessary.
The 1989 Bhagalpur massacre in Bihar, in which numerous Muslims were slaughtered and buried in a farmland where cauliflower saplings were then planted to conceal the dead, was allegedly referenced in the cauliflower image.
“Gobi (cauliflower) farming” alludes to the Bhagalpur massacre of 1989, which claimed the lives of over 1,000 people; according to certain investigations, the death toll may have exceeded 2,000. Later, police in Logain village discovered the dead of 116 Muslims interred in mass graves covered with cauliflower to conceal the murders. Diaspora in Action for Human Rights and Democracy said on X, “Since then, this imagery has been adopted in modern right-wing digital spaces as a form of coded incitement against Muslims.”
The Assam minister gave Amit Shah credit for creating the significant Bihar victory a few hours after the first post, outlining several factors. Cultural outreach and social engineering were two of them.
“Hon’ble HM Amit Shah ji expanded the NDA’s social base through community outreach, empowerment of Nari Shakti and Yuva Shakti, and a strong cultural narrative,” he stated.
But the Minister’s first statement seems to contradict the “cultural outreach” he attributes to Bihar’s victory.
The BJP politician has not removed or changed the cauliflower post despite public outcry and criticism.
The post was deemed “vulgar and shameful” by Congress Deputy Leader of the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi, who attacked the BJP leader.
Following the Bihar election results, a sitting Assamese Cabinet Minister’s usage of “gobi farming” imagery represents a startling new low in political discourse. It is disrespectful and obscene. The Logain massacre of 1989, in which 116 Muslims were slaughtered and their remains hidden beneath cauliflower plantations during the Bhagalpur riots, is commonly linked to this image, according to the Congress leader.
“It demonstrates how far some people are ready to go in public life to conjure such a tragedy in this way. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, his supervisor, encourages this way of thinking. Indian minority are hated by the Chief Minister. Assam is not like this. Mahapurush Sankardev, Lachit Borphukan, and Azaan Pir are from Assam. Gogoi, who represents Jorhat in parliament, added, “And the people of Assam will end the rule of hate and greed next year.”
The use of “gobi farming” imagery by a sitting Cabinet Minister of Assam in the wake of the Bihar election results marks a shocking new low in political discourse. It is both vulgar and shameful.
— Gaurav Gogoi (@GauravGogoiAsm) November 15, 2025
The image is widely associated with the Logain massacre of 1989, where 116 Muslims…
The Congress MP for Kishnganj, Bihar, Dr. Mohammad Jawed, also criticized the BJP.
“The committed voters of the BJP/RSS cadre have only one option! “Hatred of Muslims,” the Congress MP stated.
Sanjay Hegde, a senior Supreme Court attorney, described the post as a “incitement to violence.”
“This is a call to mass murder. Neither I nor the majority of Indians are represented by you, sir. Attorney Sanjay Hegde wrote on X, “You are unworthy of the high office you hold and are breaking your constitutional oaths.”
This is incitement to communal slaughter. You sir do not speak for me or for most Indians. You are violating your constitutional oaths and are unworthy of the high office you hold. https://t.co/DEW0RHmS7B
— SANJAY HEGDE (@sanjayuvacha) November 15, 2025
A cabinet minister, no less, is “glorifying the massacre of 116 Muslims to celebrate an election victory,” according to an X user who responded to the Assam BJP leader’s post.
He tagged Shashi Tharoor and requested that the senior Congressman get some powerful Hindu leaders to denounce this “normalization of one of the worst pogroms perpetuated against Bihari Muslims.”
“Joint remarks are not my responsibility because I’m not a community organizer. However, Tharoor said, “As a fervent supporter of #InclusiveIndia and a proud Hindu, I can speak for myself and the majority of Hindus I know in saying that neither our nationalism nor our faith requires, justifies, or condones such massacres, let alone applauds them.”
Tharoor stated, “That’s exactly what I did!” in response to a user who claimed he did not criticize the message. I denounced it.
Saket Gokhale, a Trinamool MP, also criticized the tweet.
“Gobi farming” is the term used to praise the 1989 mass murder of Muslims in Bhagalpur, Bihar. To conceal evidence, a cauliflower farm was built on the graves. This is Modi’s Assamese BJP minister. “Not some fringe element,” he stated on Saturday.
