R K SINHA
On Saturday, January 6, 2018, the Sun set on the political horizon of Lalu Prasad Yadav, a maverick politician who dominated Bihar politics whether in or out of power. He will not be able to contest any election for six years after serving the sentence of imprisonment that runs for 14 years. Since his first arrest after the CBI charged him in embezzlement of government treasury in 1997, Lalu has spent little less than a year in jail. It means he has to serve 13 more year in jail. Add six years to it and it comes to 19 years bar from contesting polls, unless and until the High Court quashes the conviction of the trial court he will be out of the ring of electoral politics.
The special designated court of the CBI held him guilty and sentenced him three and half years of imprisonment and fine. Earlier, in 2013 he was held guilty in another case of fodder scam. He is the first politician of the country to have been disqualified as Member Lok Sabha in 2013 and barred from contesting elections.
Saturday was a sad day for Lalu. He had pleaded for leniency to the CBI Judge Shiv Pal Singh considering his age. More than his age it is poor health of the RJD chief that is a cause of concern. Lalu is 69 whereas Om Prakash Chautala of Indian National Lok Dal is 83 and was jailed for ten years in the teachers recruitment scam in Harayana when he was chief minister of the state. Sukhram, former telecommunication minister was 84 when he was sentenced to five year imprisonment in the scam of more than rupees three crores in 2011.
Comparatively, Lalu Yadav is younger to Chautala and Sukharam but Lalu is keeping indifferent health. The Judge indeed has shown leniency by allowing him to serve his jail term in open camp jail in Hazaribagh with his family members considering the old age of the convicts. Others including Jagdish Sharma have also been granted this concession in jail. Lalu and others will go in appeal against the trial court judgment in the High Court. Even for bail, th convicts would have to go the High Court.
Don’t Blame BJP/RSS for Your Crime Laluji
There is saying in Hindi, “Rope ped Babul ke Aam Kahan se Hoey” (As you Sow, so you Reap). Don’t blame the BJP and the RSS for your plight Laluji. You were first arrested in 1997 when the United Front Government was in power at the Centre. You were first sentenced and disqualified as Member of Lok Sabha in 2013 when the Congress led UPA Government was in power with Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister. The trial is 21 year old. How and where the BJP and the RSS come into picture in your conviction.
It is contemptuous to allege that Lalu Yadav was convicted on January 6 because he did not align with the BJP and did not succumb to pressure of the BJP Government. Who approached the RJD leader Lalu Yadav for alliance and when? What pressure the government applied to succumb to what?
In 1991, Lalu Yadav was chief minister of Bihar. It was he who arrested Lal Krishna Advani when the BJP stalwart was on his Somnath to Ayodhya Rathyatra near Patna. This led to the fall of the V P Singh Government at the Centre. The BJP has never contested election with the support or even distant understanding with the RJD.
Lalu supporters say that since Lalu Yadav refused to fall in line with the BJP he has been punished. How the NDA Government or for that matter Prime Minister Narendra Modi is responsible for Lalu’s ordeal today?
Political Fall Out in Bihar
I see a political realignment in Bihar before general elections to Lok Sabha next year. In RJD the baton has passed to Tejaswi Yadav, the younger son of Lalu Yadav. It is Tejaswi who will lead the Party albeit under the guidance and influence of his father. Lalu. Lalu may continue as the Party head but in the field it will be his son who would run the show with an anti-BJP stance. On its own the RJD is in no position to make any headway in Lok Sabha elections next year. In 2014, the RJD won only 4 out of 40 seats in alliance with the Congress which got 2 seats only.
The shrinking political base of the RJD is up for grab. With Lalu out of electoral scene, the rank followers and support base of the RJD, the Yadavas and to a great extent the Muslims are unlikely to bet on a losing horse. A large section of Yadavas and to some extent the Muslims voters are likely to go with the BJP for the sake of development and better growth of Bihar. Mere caste appeal is unlikely to work in 2019. One indication was in Gujrat where the Congress failed to get the votes of the Patidars in the recently held Assembly Elections despite high decibel campaign of Hardik Patel. Rahul Gandhi also failed to get the votes of majority of Dalits and OBC even after roping in caste leaders like Jignesh Mevani and Alpesh Thalor though the two leaders individually were able to win their Assembly seat.
Although the Congress leaders have expressed their support for Lalu in distress as of now, there is no affirmative word from the Congress President Rahul Gandhi on the conviction of Lalu Yadav in the fodder scam case. It was Rahul who had torn the draft ordinance in 2013 in Press Club of India that sought to protect Lalu and others from being disqualified as member of elected house following the verdict of the Supreme Court on the Representation of the People Act. The ordinance was withdrawn subsequently by the Manmohan Singh Government.
The Congress Party was beating drums when A Raja former Telecommunication Minister in the Manmohan Singh Government was acquitted by the CBI court recently in the 2G scam claiming that the Congress Government had done no wrong and there was no corruption during the UPA regime. It remains to be seen if Rahul goes with the RJD in Lok Sabha elections next year. Fighting corruption and embracing the corrupt, Rahulji. You can’t eat the cake and have it too.
(The Writer is a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha)