Lalu Yadav Political Career: In 1989, Lalu was elected MP for the second time. He was also an MLA twice in between. Wanted that he should get a place in Vishwanath Pratap Singh’s government. He started hovering around the PMO in his best kurta-pajama. This effort did not succeed, but fate was going to give him a bigger position in future. Home State Bihar Lalu Prasad Yadav Has returned. He was elected the leader of the legislature party in a three-cornered contest between the Janata Dal. When he got the post of Chief Minister for the first time, he broke many traditions.
To project his pro-poor image, as Chief Minister, he made the servant quarter of Patna Veterinary College, where he used to live during times of poverty and struggle, his home. His governance style and native style of speaking took Lalu to the heights of popularity among the poor and backward classes. His dominance in state politics gave him national recognition, but controversies kept following him in this journey of progress. He went to jail in the grip of fodder scam. The punishment is done. Debarred from even contesting elections. Diseases are troubling us with age. Lawsuits are not going away.
Has handed over the political legacy to his son Tejashwi. The party is far from power, but they still hold importance in the politics of Bihar. The vote bank he created while at the top is the capital of his party RJD. On the occasion of his birthday, read some stories related to Lalu Yadav, an interesting personality of Bihar and country’s politics…
Jail became a boon for Lalu Yadav
As the President of Patna University Students Union, Lalu Yadav got the opportunity to come in contact with Jaiprakash Narayan. He was in the front row in the entire revolution movement of 1974. Prisoners were made during the Emergency, but everything changed in 1977. He was the only student leader from Bihar to whom Janata Party gave Lok Sabha ticket. He was made the party’s candidate from Chhapra.
Lalu wrote in his autobiography “Gopalganj to Raisina”, “Going to jail proved to be a boon for me. I went to file my nomination wearing handcuffs. Thousands of people had gathered to get a glimpse of me. I got a lot of sympathy from the voters.” Lalu, who won by a margin of nearly four lakh votes, was only 29 years old at that time. After the breakup of the Janata Party, Lalu, who was associated with Chaudhary Charan Singh’s camp, lost the 1980 Lok Sabha elections, but in 1980 itself he was elected MLA from Sonpur. In 1985, he was once again elected MLA from the same seat.
Wanted to be a minister, but became the Chief Minister
In 1989, Lalu was elected to the Lok Sabha for the second time from Chapra on Janata Dal ticket. By that time his ambition to become a minister had started gaining momentum. In the same year, Nitish Kumar was also elected MP from Barh. Lalu wrote, “Nitish and I tried to become ministers. We used to roam around the PMO wearing our best kurta-pajama in the hope of drawing attention to ourselves.” Although Lalu may not have found a place in Vishwanath Pratap Singh’s government, but by then 42-year-old Lalu, who had won four elections, was beginning to feel more attracted to the post of Chief Minister of Bihar than to the Centre.
Lalu had made inroads on a section of the MLAs. Vishwanath Pratap’s choice was Ram Sundar Das. This was not acceptable to Chandrashekhar, who had lagged behind in the race for the post of Prime Minister. He made the match three-cornered by putting Raghunath Jha forward. Lalu’s work became easy. He was elected leader of the legislative party. However, in the internal politics of Janata Dal, the then Governor Yunus Salim continued to delay him in swearing in the post of Chief Minister. Lalu told him that you have no other option. On March 10, 1990, Lalu took oath as Chief Minister.
Lalu Prasad Yadav
Among the poor every day by helicopter!
Before Lalu, 24 Chief Ministers of Bihar had taken oath at Raj Bhavan. For this he chose Gandhi Maidan in Patna. The surging crowd lifted its head to the sky in support of him. Lalu had never handled any administrative responsibility before this. He did not want to get entangled in the web of files. He loved the crowd. Wanted to live among them. As Chief Minister, a bungalow at 1 Anne Marg was available to him, but he came to live in his brother’s servant quarters in the Veterinary College and started working as Chief Minister from there.
His first three decisions as Chief Minister were – abolition of tax on toddy, which was the source of livelihood for the Pasis. One hundred and fifty shepherd schools have been established and the minimum wage has been increased from Rs 16.50 to Rs 21.50. The very next day after becoming the Chief Minister, Lalu started riding helicopters. The order was to land it at a place where poor and deprived people could gather.
Lalu would have a portable megaphone with him and his style of address on it would be something like this, “O cow herders, O goat herders, O cloth washers, O pig rearers. O scavengers, O burden bearers – learn to read and write. During these visits, he would hug old women. Wipe the tears of people living in poverty. Take children in his lap. These poor people would bring satua and rice from the nearby pond. The food would be cooked there and the folk singers would accompany it without any fanfare.
From servant quarters to a bigger bungalow within three months!
Even after this middle man reached such heights, a large section of the poor population of Bihar admired his simplicity. Such a Chief Minister who was living in the peon brother’s quarters instead of a big bungalow. The Chief Minister who was gearing up to remove corruption, poverty, backwardness and inequality from Bihar. Who was intent on destroying the rotten structure. Who kept the unbridled bureaucracy at bay and who tells them that he is the Chief Minister. Everyone understands. Do as you say.
People were impressed by Lalu’s speech, clothes and hair style. It seemed that he would change everything, but whether anything changed in future or not, Lalu definitely kept changing. In June 1990, three months after becoming the Chief Minister, Lalu shifted from the peon quarters of the Medical College to the Chief Minister’s bungalow.
Muslim vote bank prepared by arresting Advani
Lalu, who had given a strong defeat to his rivals in the fight for the Chief Minister’s chair, was working on a double front as an experienced leader. On the one hand, he was strengthening his presence among the backward classes, castes and minorities and on the other hand, he was sidelining the rivals from Delhi to Patna in the internal politics of Janata Dal. By arresting Lal Krishna Advani in Samastipur who had set out from Somnath for Ayodhya on a Ram Rath, he created a stir and especially gained a strong hold on the Muslim voters.
Lalu won again in 1995. He became the Chief Minister of the state for the second time, but in the meantime he came under the influence of fodder scam in the state. Coincidentally, the fodder scam was tightened against Lalu at the time when Deve Gowda, who became the Prime Minister with his help, was in office. CBI was investigating the fodder scam on the orders of the Supreme Court. Patna High Court was monitoring this investigation. The central government’s hands were tied, but considering Deve Gowda as his man, Lalu had high expectations from him.
Those who made him PM shunned him
Deve Gowda had appointed Karnataka cadre IPS Sardar Joginder Singh as the director of CBI. The Joint Director was leading the UN trust investigation team. Lalu’s arrest was not far away. Lalu’s calls from Patna to Prime Minister Deve Gowda were proving futile. Due to the investigation being conducted on the instructions of the Supreme Court and the monitoring of it by the High Court, Deve Gowda had given up, but Lalu was not ready to agree. He felt that the CBI was cornering him at the behest of Deve Gowda.
With great displeasure he told Deve Gowda on phone from Patna, “All this is not going well. Whatever you are doing, its consequences will be very bad. If you want to do a conspiracy then do it against the BJP. Why are you following us?” On one occasion, Lalu’s patience ran out when he reached 7 race courses. Said – Kaji Deve Gowda, that is why I made you PM so that you prepare a case against us? I made a big mistake by making you PM. Deve Gowda’s reply was blunt, “The Government of India and the CBI are not a Janata Dal and they have been driven like a buffalo. You run the party like a buffalo, but I run the Government of India.”
Lalu Prasad Yadav’s political journey
Fodder scam ruined
Lalu’s style had earned him immense fame beyond the borders of Bihar, especially in North India. His speeches were still cheeky and lewd. The ability to draw crowds was intact. He had created a common strong vote bank of ethnic Yadavs and Muslims, but soon people started becoming disillusioned with him. Under his leadership, Bihar lagged behind. The condition of the state kept worsening on the front from development to law and order. The fodder scam sent him to jail in 1997. Of course, through his wife Rabri Devi, he retained power in Bihar till 2005, but his image took a huge blow.
The 15-year long rule of him and his family was named Jungle Raj by the opposition. He kept going to jail in the fodder scam. He was the Railway Minister at the Center during UPA-1, but his conviction in the fodder scam pushed him to the background. Also became ineligible from contesting elections. Granted bail on grounds of illness.
Daughter Rohini Acharya gave him a kidney. Many members of the family have political ambitions, but they have decided their political succession in favor of Tejashwi. He is holding on to the hope of seeing Tejashwi on the Chief Minister’s chair, but the voters once again disappointed him by rejecting his party in the 2025 assembly elections. Lalu’s political innings is complete. On the other hand, poor health, fights between children and corruption related cases are not allowing them to live peacefully.
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