lalu Prasad believes he is still in the 1990s
The heady feeling of freedom and the breath of fresh air after coming out of the confines of prison can make people hallucinate for a while. Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo lalu Prasad can be forgiven, therefore, for believing soon after he came out on bail that he will be at the forefront in the fight on behalf of the ‘secular' forces against Mr Narendra Modi or “any other Modi”. He even boasted about his incarceration on the premise that a person “scared of going to jail cannot achieve anything in life”.
lalu Prasad forgets that the politics of Bihar (and the country) has moved beyond the 1990s when he reigned supreme. The Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate has been gaining increasing acceptance across the country even as the RJD chief battles his conviction in the fodder scam. lalu Prasad has lost credibility and stands disqualified from Parliament. Yet, lalu Prasad is brazen about the issue and wants the people to believe that he has been wrongfully convicted. While the last legal word on the case is still to come, for now the former Bihar Chief Minister remains a convict, and his words will carry little weight.
It will be interesting to see how the left parties, who are ever so upright on the issue of convicted lawmakers, deal with lalu Prasad's enthusiasm to join the anti-Modi and the ‘pro-secular' brigade — and lead it at least in his home State. As for his being proud of been jailed, let us remember that he was not imprisoned as a result of some flimsy First Information Report on account of political rivalry. The courts have held him guilty of grave charges of misappropriation of public funds — and that makes him a convicted scamster.
Yet, it is possible that lalu Prasad sees a small opening in Bihar politics for himself, discredited that he may be. The ruling Janata Dal (United) is vulnerable after it broke off unilaterally from the BJP-led NDA some months ago over the BJP’s decision to project Mr Narendra Modi on the national stage. The RJD leader believes that at least some of those votes which the JD(U) commanded could return to him. If he can yet again sew the Yadav-Muslim combination, he could pose a serious challenge to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. But lalu Yadav should understand his limitations. Caste equations have changed since the days he had plunged Bihar into the terrible politics of divisiveness. He must also realise that the BJP has emerged stronger in the State after the JD(U) walked out, and is poised to change the power equations there. lalu Prasad, with his dented image and faded credibility and an abominable track record in governance, is no match for the BJP's prime ministerial candidate, who has gained the reputation of being an effective administrator.
Finally, the RJD supremo will have to appreciate that the new-age voters are not enamoured of his brand of parochial politics which is based more on hate than development.