Key Points:
Ashok Singhal’s cauliflower post sparked outrage for allegedly referencing the 1989 Bhagalpur riots.
The massacre victims were buried under cauliflower fields.
Opposition leaders and netizens condemned the post, calling it insensitive and a disturbing normalization of violence against minorities.
In the wake of the landslide victory secured by the NDA in the Bihar assembly polls, a recent post by Assam's Minister of Health and Welfare, Ashok Singhal, has sparked massive controversy. Singhal made the post on his official X account on November 14, 2025—the same day as vote counting—featuring an image of a cauliflower plantation.
The opposition, along with many users on the internet, immediately criticized the BJP leader for using an image that indirectly referenced the cauliflower burial case of the 1989 Bhagalpur communal riots. Several users noted that the timing of the post was unlikely to be a coincidence. The caption of the post read, “Bihar approves Gobi farming.”
The cauliflower-themed post by Singhal triggered monumental backlash, as the 1989 riots resulted in the massacre of 116 Muslims in Logain village. Assam Congress President Gaurav Gogoi described the post as a “shocking new low” in contemporary politics, stating that a sitting cabinet minister’s post was nothing short of “vulgar” and “shameful.”
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The communal riots that devastated Bhagalpur, Bihar, three decades ago are often referred to as a “forgotten riot.” According to many internet users and opposition leaders, the cauliflower (Gobi) reference is a direct call back to the massacres in Bhagalpur—particularly the Logain village massacre, where more than 100 Muslims were killed and their bodies buried under a cauliflower plantation to hide the evidence.
The riots in Bhagalpur lasted nearly two months and led to a series of massacres, killing thousands and affecting around 200 villages. The district witnessed one of its worst episodes of communal violence, rooted in long-standing tension between Hindus and Muslims. The violence erupted on 24 October 1989, but the situation had already been deteriorating due to spreading rumours.
One rumour claimed that around 200 Hindu students had been killed and their bodies dumped in a well near Bhagalpur. In the months leading up to the riots, tensions between the two communities were extremely high.
In 1989, the right-wing Hindu group Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) organized a yatra as part of the Ram Janmabhoomi campaign, which sought to build a Ram temple at Ayodhya in place of the Babri Masjid. The procession led by the VHP toward the Gaushala area faced several hurdles, further escalating tensions and triggering the horrific riots of 1989.
Reports suggest that more than 900 Muslims were allegedly killed by right-wing groups during the riots. Official accounts record over a thousand deaths and nearly 200 villages affected by the violence.
The aftermath saw a domino effect of chaos and horror across Bhagalpur. Numerous villages, including Madaninagar and Parandarpur, were caught in the crossfire. A massive mob of nearly 4,000 people attacked Logain village, killing 116 Muslims. Their bodies were secretly buried under cauliflower and cabbage fields to conceal the evidence.
After 25 days since the riots, the then Additional District Manager of Bhagalpur, A.K. Singh, uncovered the massacre site. Singh overheard the villagers talking about the dead bodies buried under the cauliflower plants.
Decades later, in 2007, 14 people were sentenced to life imprisonment for their involvement in the massacre.
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Before Ashok Singhal’s post on X, a similar pattern of references to the 1989 Bhagalpur riots had surfaced during violence in Nagpur, Maharashtra, in March 2025.
Several right-wing social media accounts shared images of cauliflower, implying violence as a solution. The Nagpur violence stemmed from protests over Aurangzeb’s tomb, led by Bajrang Dal and the VHP. One X user posted an image of a woman selling cauliflower with the caption, “Maybe Nagpur has a solution.”
Some users defended Singhal’s cauliflower-field post as mere coincidence. One user claimed, “He is actually talking about how a government scheme in Bihar that provided subsidies and support to cauliflower farmers contributed to the NDA victory in Bihar.”
However, Singhal’s post drew widespread criticism from political leaders, including Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi, Trinamool Congress MP Saket Gokhale, and Assam Congress President Gaurav Gogoi.
Gogoi wrote on X that the Assam minister had a “mindset of hatred.” He added, “This is not what Assam is. Assam is the land of Mahapurush Sankardev, Lachit Borphukan, and Azaan Pir. And next year, the people of Assam will end the rule of hate and greed.”
Senior advocate and Congress MP Abhishek Singhvi called for immediate action against Singhal’s ‘Gobi farming’ post. Singhvi wrote on X, “Communal dog-whistling cannot be normalised from within the BJP’s own ranks.
Trinamool MP Saket Gokhale said that the term “gobi farming” was a direct reference to the mass killings in Bhagalpur in 1989. He further wrote, “This is Modi’s BJP minister from Assam, not some fringe element. Clearly, @PMOIndia approves this. The world should know.”
Another X user tagged Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, asking:
“Let’s see if @ShashiTharoor can get a few influential Hindu leaders to condemn this normalization of one of the worst pogroms perpetrated against Bihari Muslims.”
Tharoor responded, “I’m not a community organiser, so joint statements are not my job.” He added that, on behalf of most Hindus, neither his faith nor his nationalism condones or applauds such massacres. [Rh]
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