Lalu Prasad Yadav wants Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to secure a special category status for Bihar from the Prime Minister Narendra Modi before it is too late.
“They (Janata Dal-United) are in the government now. What is the meaning of adopting a resolution or making a demand (for the special category status for Bihar)? The prime minister who is surviving on the support of his party should have already initiated the process to grant the long standing demand of the state,” the Rashtriya Janata Dal president said.
Talking exclusively with this writer on June 29, Lalu said, “Nitish should be in a hurry for special status because the Narendra Modi government will not last long.”
But the word on the street is that Nitish Kumar is believed in a “wait and watch” mood. The party which won 12 Lok Sabha seats – equal to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s tally in Bihar. It is in no hurry to precipitate any crisis against the Modi led National Democratic Alliance.
Top sources in the JD(U) said that the party which anointed Sanjay Jha as its working president at its national executive on June 29 would focus on consolidating its position in the assembly elections due in October 2025 in the state. The party believes that the Modi government would award some sort of compensation to Andhra Pradesh as well as Bihar, if not special category status specifically.
“Modi has retained all his men at the key ministries. He has insulted the allies by denying them the key portfolios to them,” Lalu said. But the JD(U) does not seem too bothered. Moreover, Jha on being anointed his party’s working president, has also only talked about strengthening the party’s organisation.
But Lalu also felt that a change is in the offing.
“Apart from his dependence on the allies, the prime minister faces big rebellion against himself from within his own organisation. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is after him (Modi),” he said.
Asked to explain his thoughts further, the RJD boss said, “Modi wants to dislodge the Uttar Pradesh chief minister, Adityanath. It’s an open secret. The RSS, as per my understanding of its politics, won’t let Modi have his way with Adityanath. In fact, the RSS will back Adityanath in its larger operation to do away with Modi as PM. Besides, several BJP MPs are opposed to Modi.”
“The RSS has understood that Modi is no longer of any use,” he added.
Modi’s way out
So what can Modi do?
“Tod phaad karega. Nitish aur Naidu ko toh sachet kar raha hoon,” Lalu said.
Modi would resort to breaking the JD(U) and the Telugu Desam Party – led by Nitish and Chandrababu Naidu respectively, which is why Lalu wants to issue a warning for them.
“He (Modi) possesses only two cards. He creates Hindu-Muslim divide in the society and breaks other parties in the parliament and the assemblies to augment his strength. Despite his unbridled and relentlessly venomous campaigns against the Muslims, the Hindus and Muslims rejuvenated their bond of brotherhood and voted against him all across the country depriving him of a valid mandate. Now, with the failure of his divisive card – beyond redemption – Modi will play his second card of breaking his allies with more ferocity, something which Nitish and Naidu should be cautious of,” Lalu said.
During the interview, the Congress MP from Kishanganj, Mohammad Javed along with his party’s Kishanganj MLA, Izharul Hussain, made a courtesy call to Lalu. “Stay united and step up the fight for the cause of the minorities and poor,” Lalu told them.
Soon after the duo left, Lalu said that Muslims have stayed in a grip of fear during the past 10 years of Modi’s rule. “But now they should shun the fear as Modi’s days are numbered…He can’t survive. He is on the way out,” he said.
“I am content that the Muslim and Hindus have eventually understood how Modi was ruling by breaking the bond of brotherhood. The poor peasants in both communities, all across India, have reinvented their bond,” Lalu said, adding, “They have understood how Modi disregarded the Hindu dharmacharyas (religious authorities) in the consecration of the Ram temple.”
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Lalu was very critical of the Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla for facilitating the adoption of a resolution against the 1975 Emergency in the Lok Sabha and the President Droupadi Murmu referring to it in her address.
“It was abominable. The parliament should be discussing the paper leak in all the BJP ruled states, burgeoning unemployment obliterating the dreams of the youths, unprecedented inflation, breaking the back of the poor, caste census, incorporating the 65% reservation by the Bihar government to the marginalised classes in the 9th schedule of the Constitution, farm crisis and the pogrom in Manipur. The President, who is a woman, should have been made to deliberate on the policies the government had initiated to empower the women, Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes, minorities and other marginalised sections. But by raking up the memory of Emergency in a convoluted manner, Modi has made yet another diabolical effort to deflect the country’s attention from his monumental failures with governance,” Lalu said.
Lalu was optimistic about the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance’s performance at future elections. “The opposition is quite robust now. Modi can’t be able to break the opposition unity. Rahul Gandhi has gone a long way…he is the leader of opposition now. Rahul, Akhilesh (Yadav) and all other leaders of the INDIA bloc are determined to reign in the divisive forces in the parliament and on the street. They shouldn’t relent till Modi is technically ousted from power,” he said.
Modi has lost the mandate, Lalu feels. “Look at his face these days…he is under pressure,” he added.
Nalin Verma is a senior journalist, author, media educator and independent researcher in folklore.
