Today incarcerated in a series of allegedly corruption related cases, Lalu Prasad Yadav turns 75. Considered by many to be the living face of the ‘Samajik Nyay Andolan’, he is remembered by many movements for the pathbreaking changes his brand of politics brought to the most marginalised among the other backward castes (OBCs), minorities (Muslims, Christians).
Lalu’s historic rally at the Gandhi Maidan, Patna in October 1990 when he appealed to LK Advani to stop his blood-soaked rath yatra made him a permanent enemy of the RSS. Thereafter, his role as Union Railway Minister in daring to probe the 2002 Godhra violence (UC Banerjee Committee) he earned the permanent ire of this regime
Though not quite able to creatively resolve the tensions between the Yadavs and Dalits while in power in Bihar as its chief minister, Lalu’s most courageous moment has been recorded by documentary film maker Anand Patwardhan in his iconic film, Ram ke Naam. The middle film of his three part trilogy on the politics of communalism (the first being In Memory of Friends and the third, Father, Son and Holy War), Patwardhan recalls his tryst with AB Bardhan (CPI) and Lalu Prasad Yadav at Patna’s historic Gandhi maidan where the two were directly addressing the corrosive politics that the Bharaitya Janata Party (BJP) has led the country too. In 2015, his crucial piece for Sabrangindia, A Hinduism that is the Mirror Opposite of Hindutva (that was later re-published by Scroll.in) Patwardhan writes,
“We had got on a wrong train and it was impossible to get out! It turned out to be a stroke of luck as the train took us to Patna, Bihar where the Left front along with Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav were holding a huge anti-Rath rally at the Gandhi Maidan. Bihar where the Left front along with Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav were holding a huge anti-Rath rally at the Gandhi Maidan.
A.B. Bardhan of the CPI made a brilliant appeal to preserve India’s syncretic culture and Lalu Prasad Yadav gave a stern warning telling Advani to turn back from the brink. A few days later he kept his promise. Advani was arrested and the Rath Yatra finally came to a halt in Bihar. Not so the kar sevaks who used all modes of transport to continue to head towards Ayodhya.”
The historic event was recorded by Patwardhan and can be viewed here where a young a dapper Lalu is clear and unequivocal in his appeal:
Today, the politics of demolition, hate and destruction that the Ramjanmabhoomi movement that led to the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992 and violence before and after (where Muslims were the target) has clearly meant has been taken to even more visceral heights under the leadership of the present regime. Apart from living in fear, intimidation and threat, the Muslims of India remaine one of the most marginalised communities, socio-economically and politically.
President of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RJD), Lalu was Janata Dal first chief minister of Bihar from 1990-1997. RJD was formed when he split away in 1997 due to allegations in the fodder scam for which he is serving a hail term. Lalu Yadav has been in the state assembly and legislatve council of Bihar as also in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. In the 1998 general election for the 12th Lok Sabha he won from Madhepura but lost in the 1999 general election to Sharad Yadav. In 2000 he won in the Bihar state election and remained in opposition. In 2002, Lalu was elected to the Rajya Sabha where he was until 2004. In 2002, the RJD formed the government in Bihar with Lalu’s wife, Rabri Devi as chief minister. Thereafter, except for a brief spell of President’s rule and a seven day term of Nitish Kumar, RJD remained in power in Bihar till 2005.
In May 2004, after winning from both Chhapra and Mahepura constituencies, he won with large margins from both. RJD with 21 seats became the second largest member of the UPA in 2004. Lalu’s role as union railway minister was truly his most glorious.
A people’s man, Lalu Yadav left passenger fares untouched and focused on other sources of revenue for the railways. He banned plastic cups from being used to serve tea at railway stations and replaced those with kulhars (earthen cups), in order to generate more employment in rural areas. After announcing in June 2004 that he would get on the railway himself to inspect its problems, he did so and went on to board the train from Patna Railway station at midnight.
In these times of utter economic collapse and hardship it was his transformation of the Indian railways from a loss-making enterprise to profit generating that is rarely remembered. When he took over, the Indian Railways was a loss-making organisation.0] In the years under his leadership, it showed a cumulative total profit of ₹38,000 crore (US$5.0 billion). Business schools around the world became interested in Lalu Yadav’s leadership in managing the turnaround. The turnaround was introduced as a case study by the Indian Institute of Management. Yadav also received invitations from eight Ivy League schools for lectures, and addressed over a hundred students from Harvard, Wharton and others. Lalu would speak in his quintessential Hindi at these famed international institutes. Harvard Business School and HEC Management School, France, have shown interest in turning Lalu Yadav’s experiment with the Indian Railway into case studies for aspiring business graduates.
For this and other depressed communities, the politics represented by Kanshiram and Lalu Yadav who, along with Mulayam Singh Yadav, were torch bearers of the Indian social justice movement is an important point of recall. Despite the erosion of these values within the legatees of this movement and the parties, the fact is that the social justice movement had the capacity to address the problems of the communities to whom they were addressing. Lalu Yadav has had to pay a personal price for rising to the challenge to ensure that the ‘Samajik Nyay Andolan’ reaches the most number of people.
When in 2004, under the first government of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) he constituted the Justice UC Banerjee Committee to especially probe the burning down of Coach S-6 of the Sabarmati Express at Godhra, he made permanent enemies. These are today in the highest echelons of power. Which is why Lalu Yadav celebrates his 75th birthday in jail.
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A Hinduism that is the mirror opposite of Hindutva