OWNER OF THE DEBRIS: RJD’S SUCCESSION

OWNER OF THE DEBRIS: RJD’S SUCCESSION

13-FEB-ENG 4

RAJIV NAYAN AGRAWAL

PATNA---------------------------News from Patna indicates that Lalu Prasad Yadav's son, Tejashwi Yadav, has been appointed acting president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, the party he heads. This decision was made at the party's National Executive Committee meeting held in Patna. Quickly reporting this, some media outlets wrote that the Lalu era in the party had come to an end. Rohini Acharya, one of Lalu Prasad Yadav's daughters, tweeted: "This is a kind of culmination of the glorious career of the top man in politics. Congratulations to the Thakur Suhati followers and the 'gang of infiltration' on the coronation of the prince who became their puppet."

This comment comes from within the family. This is from Lalu Prasad Yadav's daughter and Tejashwi Yadav's brother. Doesn't it feel like we are listening to the story of the Mughal era, when two of the four sons of the old Shah Jahan, Aurangzeb and Dara Shikoh, were fighting for power, and each had a sister active in politics.

Lalu Prasad Yadav is old and ill. He probably cannot retire from politics while he is alive. I completely agree that Lalu Prasad Yadav still understands Bihar politics better than anyone else. He probably assessed the last election correctly. He knows that due to the party's crushing defeat, he himself is facing a lot of trouble. He understands that, except for a small segment of the public, almost everyone hates him. This is why he has tried to hide behind the scenes or create confusion. The acting president has served in the RJD before. Everyone knows his status. Even those who understand the basics of politics understand that this is not a position at all. Therefore, I disagree that the Lalu era has ended. It should not be expected that anyone will remove Laluji from his post while he is alive.

But a turning point is visible in Bihar politics. I assess that the Rashtriya Janata Dal has lost its relevance. This party will disappear completely in the next few years. And its demise will likely contribute to the dynamism of Bihar politics. The Bharatiya Janata Party in Bihar has become strong not because of its own strength, but because of the weakness of the opposition. Laluji played a major role in strengthening it. He so morally eroded opposition politics that the path became smoother for the BJP. For the first time, the BJP has elected its national president. By building a party from Bihar, he has underlined the importance of Bihar for himself.

Therefore, I believe that the demise of the Rashtriya Janata Dal in Bihar will also be a warning bell for the BJP. In essence, the essence of Bihar politics has become that the BJP's worms are breeding on the RJD's garbage. To eliminate the worms, cleaning up the garbage is essential.

But this is an opportunity to also observe the bright side of Lalu Prasad's politics. A militant young man emerged from the Jayaprakash Movement, a true proletarian. Born into a landless family, the son of a curd-selling mother, he joined socialist politics and carved a niche for himself in the politics of the semi-feudal state of Bihar. After the demise of socialist leader Karpuri Thakur in 1987, he assumed the leadership of the then Lok Dal legislative party. He inherited Karpuri Thakur's fighting legacy: thousands of seasoned workers and hundreds of leaders. In 1988, the Lok Dal became the Janata Dal. In 1990, this same Janata Dal merged with the Janata Dal. Lalu Prasad Yadav became the Chief Minister of Bihar. Just before that, there was the infamous Congress government, which appointed five Chief Ministers in its ten-year rule, but all from only two upper castes. This provoked a fierce backlash among the backward classes. After the 1989 Bhagalpur communal riots, Muslims were also disillusioned. The socialists also held sway over Dalit politics in Bihar. Ram Sundar Das and Ram Vilas Paswan were its prominent leaders. The Janata Dal was a broad political platform. The combined strength of leaders like Ram Vilas Paswan, Sharad Yadav, Ram Sundar Das, and Nitish Kumar held significant significance. During the Mandal era, this unity gave a new turn to Bihar politics. It was called the golden age of social justice politics. However, some people spread the illusion that this was Lalu Prasad Yadav's politics. In reality, it was the combined strength of the Janata Dal. In 1995, the Janata Dal won a clear majority in the Bihar Legislative Assembly, including Jharkhand. This marked the beginning of Lalu Prasad Yadav's political downfall. The following year, he was embroiled in the fodder scam. Just a few months earlier, he was accused of hawala scam. When S.R. Bommai's name was mentioned as the party's national president, he resigned, and Lalu Prasad Yadav was appointed the Janata Dal's national president. He boasted that the hawala case had handed over the presidency to him. However, when he was asked to resign as president and Chief Minister of Bihar in the fodder case, he began to hesitate. Ultimately, the party split into two factions. On July 5, 1997, Lalu Prasad Yadav was forced to form his own new party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal. He was now the supreme leader of this party. Twenty days later, on July 25, he also had to relinquish the post of Chief Minister. By appointing his wife, Rabri Devi, as Chief Minister, he introduced nepotism into democracy. But despite all this, the majority of Bihar's Dalit and backward classes trusted Lalu Prasad Yadav.

His first visible defeat came in 2005. Two Bihar Legislative Assembly elections were held that year, in February and October. No party or alliance secured a clear majority in the February elections. Lalu Prasad Yadav had an opportunity. He used this confidential proposal. rejected that Nitish Kumar should be accepted as the Chief Minister of Bihar and A merger of the NDA (United) and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), with Lalu Prasad Yadav as its national president. At that time, the Janata Dal (United) had won 55 seats and the RJD 75 in the Assembly. Ram Vilas Paswan's party had won 29 seats. Lalu Prasad Yadav and Paswan Yadav were members of the UPA government's Union Council of Ministers. (But a rift had already developed between them, perhaps over portfolios.) Lalu Prasad Yadav counter-offered to make Rabri Devi the Chief Minister and Nitish Kumar to join the Union Council of Ministers. The matter ended. Re-elections were held in October, and the National Democratic Alliance (JDU-BJP) secured a more than clear, comfortable majority. Bihar slipped from Lalu Prasad Yadav's grasp. Lalu Prasad Yadav won only four seats in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections and only 22 seats in the 2010 Assembly elections. Defeat was now evident.

Meanwhile, Nitish Kumar also separated from the BJP, and after a period of ups and downs, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar reunited in 2015. The BJP alliance was reduced to 58 seats. But in 2017, Nitish once again joined the BJP.

In the 2019 and 2020 elections, Lalu Prasad Yadav was in jail. Tejashwi was in charge of the party. I also served the RJD at some level, especially in the 2020 assembly elections. It was decided to free the RJD from Lalu. Even though he was the national president, Tejashwi tried to bring Generation Ji closer to the party. The pledge to provide 10 lakh jobs became part of the manifesto. This underlined caste neutrality in Bihar politics after two decades. It was welcomed. Lalu Yadav's pictures were removed even from the hoardings at the party office. Rabri Devi or any other family member did not participate in the campaign. Tejashwi single-handedly led the campaign. Until then, he was a bachelor and had a gentle, young image. This presented a new image of the RJD. Now, there was a Lalu-free RJD. The public largely accepted this. The alliance won 110 seats. Had the mistake of giving 70 seats to Congress not been made, the RJD alliance would have won a majority. Lalu Prasad Yadav had given 70 seats at the last minute, and Tejashwi was protesting. Had Lalu Yadav not engaged in unethical ticket manipulation while in jail, Tejashwi would have become Chief Minister.

Then came 2022. Lalu Prasad Yadav was now out. He once again took control of the party. In 2022, he once again allied with Nitish Kumar's party. This was a grave mistake on Lalu Prasad's part. This empowered Nitish Kumar. By including casteist and powerful leaders from his party in the new cabinet, Lalu Prasad Yadav showed the people that he was the real leader of the RJD. There was no way he could do anything. Meanwhile, for whatever reason, Tejashwi's speech and demeanor began to differ from before. He made no effort to address this. The energetic youth of 2020 appeared irritable and disinterested in 2025. His body language had disintegrated. Only he could understand his inner feelings, but I was disappointed by this downfall of a promising young man. And ultimately, the results are there for all to see.

I don't think this party has any future. In a democracy, morality is essential to gain public support, even if it's a facade. But the way Lalu Prasad Yadav has strangled morality is hard to find. Being anti-BJP doesn't mean you're secular or a socialist. You need to show that you can accommodate everyone. Lalu Prasad Yadav has completely lost this skill. He should have tried to carry forward Karpoori Thakur's politics. He first confined socialist politics to his own family, first to 'My Family', then to 'Y', and finally to 'I'. It is said that he once dreamed of becoming the Ram Lakhan of the Yadavs, but ultimately ended up becoming the Shahabuddin of the Yadavs.

My only pain is that Lalu Prasad and Nitish Kumar have together strangled socialist politics in Bihar. One sacrificed everything for the BJP, the other for his family.

The question shouldn't be about succession, but about the formation of a new front. Politically, the RJD has become a shambles. Becoming its leader is meaningless. My advice would be for Tejashwi to remain silent for a while, travel, meet people, and begin a new political journey.