In a recent The Wire interview with this author, former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav had predicted the “worst-ever defeat of the Bharatiya Janata Party” in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, and exuded confidence that Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee wouldn’t desert the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).
The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president’s prophecy about his Trinamool Congress (TMC) counterpart and Bengal chief minister has fallen on its face with the latter going solo in the neighbouring state. It’s to be seen to what extent his prediction regarding the BJP comes true.
Banerjee was a founder of the INDIA bloc and was quite loquacious, at least, in her words against the Hindutva party. But her move, according to political pundits, has decidedly helped the BJP in breaking the larger opposition unity on the Bengal turf. The eastern state now is all set to witness a triangular contest between the BJP, TMC and the Congress-Left to an obvious advantage of the party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The TMC chief landed in Patna on the eve of the first oppositions’ meet on June 23, 2023, went straight to Yadav and bowed before him. The picture of Yadav tapping Banerjee’s head in a display of affection and the West Bengal chief minister describing Yadav as the “highly respected senior pro” fuelled a perception among the beleaguered opposition leaders that the “fiery” Didi (sister) and “indomitable” Yadav together would effectively challenge the Hindutva party in Bengal and Bihar.
That perception stands demolished now.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Choudhary is quoted as saying in The Indian Express, “She (Banerjee) thinks the Central government would send ED, CBI…after the TMC… So, she chose to stay out of alliance and send a message to the PMO that she is not part of the alliance…and that she is not fighting the BJP.”
It’s hard to measure the truth of Choudhary’s remarks but the fact remains that Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee and several of her party leaders are under the scanner of the central investigating agencies and many of her former party colleagues including Shubhendu Adhikari have shifted to the BJP to “save their skin” in corruption cases.
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In fact, former Calcutta high court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay’s joining the BJP is being linked to his orders against TMC leaders in cases of corruption which he had passed in his capacity as a judge.
How Lalu Prasad Yadav and Mamata Banerjee are different
Here comes the difference between Yadav and Banerjee.
The central agencies have been relentless against the RJD president and his family members for years. He stayed in jail for four years with the CBI ferociously opposing his bail from the lower court to the Supreme Court.
The investigating agencies’ heat on him and his family members increased manifold with Modi coming to power in 2014. The CBI dug the cases related to his tenures as the railway minister (2004-2009) which it had closed in 2011 and framed his son, Tejashwi Yadav, wife Rabri Devi and their daughters in corruption charges.
But at no point of time, Yadav ever gave the slightest hint to play ball with the BJP. Rather, the more the investigating agencies stepped up their pressure, the more rebellious he became.
“Agar Lalu ji BJP se haath milaa lete tou wo aaj Hinustan ke raja Harishchandra hot-e. Tathakathit chara ghotala do minute mein bhaichara ghotala ho jata agar Lalu ji ka DNA badal jaataa,” a pinned tweet of Tejashwi Yadav posted on December 26, 2017, reads. In English, it means that had Lalu joined the BJP he would have been treated like the truthful king Harishchandra and would have been exonerated from all the charges of corruption.
अगर लालू जी BJP से हाथ मिला लेते तो वो आज हिंदुस्तान के राजा हरीशचंद्र होते।तथाकथित चारा घोटाला दो मिनट में भाईचारा घोटाला हो जाता अगर लालू जी का DNA बदल जाता।
Advertisement— Tejashwi Yadav (@yadavtejashwi) December 26, 2017
Banerjee’s one-to-one meeting with the prime minister recently fuelled speculations in the media that she was “up to some deal” with the BJP. It’s not that the saffron party didn’t try its ‘tricks’ on Yadav. In 2015, when Bihar chief minister, Nitish Kumar was in Mahagathbandhan with the RJD and Congress, a rumour cropped up that the then Union finance minister, Arun Jaitely (alive then) had a “secret meeting” with Yadav, offering him to “kick out Nitish and form the government in Bihar with support of the BJP”.
In 2014, when Yadav underwent a heart surgery and was recuperating at his Patna home, Modi called Yadav, purportedly to inquire about his health which a section of the media interpreted as a “feeler” from the prime minister. The ailing RJD chief vehemently scotched such reports, roaring in no uncertain terms, “Never…never shall I compromise with the communal forces, whatever the situation is. I am here to fight the fascist forces, my fight will continue…raaj rahe ya jai (in power or out of power, it doesn’t matter)”.
Over the years, he was convicted in back to back cases of the fodder scam and was jailed as well.
How Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal treated Lalu Prasad Yadav
A special CBI court convicted Yadav for the first time in October 2013. He was an MP from Bihar’s Saran seat at that time. He lost his membership of the Lok Sabha and was barred from contesting the polls. The then Manmohan Singh government brought out an ordinance, giving three months reprieve to the convicted law-makers to retain their seats that would have allowed Yadav to contest the 2014 elections. But Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tore up that ordinance, embarrassing his own government and hurting Yadav.
Despite getting the biggest ever blow in his political career from none other than an ally, Yadav didn’t speak a word either against Gandhi or against the Congress and stayed steadfast in his tirade against the Sangh parivar.
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Right from the beginning of his political career, Arvind Kejriwal who rose to power as a crusader against corruption was opposed to Yadav. He shied away from sharing dais with Yadav and was wary of shaking hands with the latter in a bid to guard his “honest image”. Now, two of Kejriwal’s colleagues, Satendra Jain and Sanjay Singh are in jail and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has issued eight summon notices to him in corruption cases.
But keeping all these things behind, Yadav was seen giving tips to Gandhi in preparing ‘desi’ mutton at his daughter, Misa Bharti’s home at New Delhi recently. Insiders revealed that Yadav was very warm to Kejriwal too during INDIA bloc conclaves at Patna, Bengaluru and Mumbai.
Now, Gandhi and Kejriwal must have changed their perception about Yadav. After all, the RJD president has stuck with the Congress at the time when many of its old loyalists have shifted to the BJP and Kejriwal faces the stigma of corruption — he made a career fighting against corruption — heaped on him.
Nalin Verma is a senior journalist, author, media educator and independent researcher in folklore.
