Lalu Yadav’s Bihar Gambit Gives Poll Ammunition To RJD, Congress, BJP | Outlook India Magazine

What is a word in politics? Much, if it has the potential to drive a wedge between long-standing allies and break their alliance beyond redemption.

‘Bhaktohar’, an innocuous Bihari term used by Rashtriya Janata Dal president Lalu Prasad Yadav for senior Congress leader Bhakt Charan Das, has done more damage to the Grand Alliance than their decision to contest the upcoming by-elections to the two assemblies. Seats against each other in Bihar

On October 24, the day Lalu returned to Patna from Delhi for the first time in nearly three-and-a-half years, the RJD president sidelined Das, who is currently in charge of Congress affairs in Bihar. In response to a journalist’s question on the former Union minister’s alleged allegations about a behind-the-scenes ‘deal’ between the RJD and the BJP. “Who’s saying that?” Lalu replied angrily. When he was told about it, he used a commonly used offensive adjective in Bihari language to denote an ignorant person who is unable to see things clearly.

On his part, Das—a widely respected Dalit leader from Odisha—pounced on the chin, saying he would continue to hold Lalu in high esteem. But this angered the leaders of his party. Former Bihar Pradesh Congress Committee president Anil Sharma wondered whether Lalu was born to insult Dalits, from former chief ministers like the late Ram Sundar Das and Jitan Ram Manjhi to leaders with a socialist background like Das. Former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar called it a case of violation of the SC / ST Prevention of Atrocities Act. “Bhakt Charan Das ji has forgiven him (Lalu), but it is sad to hear such derogatory remarks from a senior leader of Bihar,” he said.

Referring to Lalu’s remarks without taking names, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said such words (bhakchonhar) is only used to get publicity. Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular chief Jitan Ram Manjhi called it a real insult to the entire Dalit community. “Why do you hate Dalits so much?” He asked Lalu.

BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sushil Kumar Modi, however, took a jibe at the Congress, saying the party would continue to be an ally of Lalu, even if the senior party leader was humiliated by him.

The RJD immediately got into damage-control mode by explaining the meaning of the ‘common Bihari word’ to anyone who doesn’t know it. “Let us increase their knowledge. It means ‘absent’ and ‘sad’,” it tweeted.

But for political circles, the media and social media had a field day trying to explain the meaning of bhakchonhar own way. Some claimed it meant indiscreet, while others claimed it was used to mean ‘stupid person’. Veteran RJD leader Shivanand Tiwari, who like Lalu himself is a Bhojpuri speaker, defended his party chief. ruckus over the use of the word bhojpuri bhakchonhar As if it is a filthy abuse,” says Tiwari. “This is a major distortion of its meaning. As a Bhojpuri lover I feel it is an insult to the language.

However, Lalu—whose return has enthused party supporters across the state—couldn’t care less about all the ruckus around him. He busy himself with two important tasks that required his immediate attention in Bihar: ensuring the party’s victory in the by-elections and negotiating a settlement between his warring sons, Tejashwi and Tej Pratap Yadav.

Despite his ill health, Lalu is expected to campaign for RJD candidates in the bypolls. Also, he has to counsel his elder son, Tej Pratap, who has become a rebel against Tejashwi, for allegedly being ignored. He has been demanding the removal of RJD state president Jagdanand Singh, Lalu’s trusted aide for decades, but Tejashwi ignored his repeated pleas and even nominated his elder brother as star campaigners for the by-elections. Kicked off the list.

For the record, the RJD and the Congress have been longtime allies in the grand alliance and fought the assembly elections together last year. But in the by-elections to be held for Kusheshwarsthan and Tarapur seats, the parties have fielded their candidates, but now their alliance is broken. In the November 2020 state elections, RJD had contested from Tarapur and left Kusheshwarsthan for Congress, but both were defeated.

This time, the RJD refused to give up the Kusheshwarsthan seat in Darbhanga district to the Congress, which has been its ally’s traditional seat. Angered by the RJD’s decision, Das not only announced that his party would contest all 40 seats in Bihar in the next Lok Sabha elections, but also accused the RJD of colluding with the BJP. Why has RJD not said anything against BJP till now? He asked.

In response, Lalu not only used the word ‘bhakchonhar’ for Das, but also said that his party could not give seats to the Congress to forfeit the bail in the elections.

Political analysts speculate that Lalu has chosen to deprive the Congress of its traditional seat, mainly because of the poor strike rate in the last elections. In the 2020 assembly elections, the RJD had given the Congress 70 seats out of a total of 243, but it could win only 19. The RJD clearly feels that the poor performance of the Congress kept it out of power. Elections against Nitish Kumar led NDA.

Due to the rising popularity of Tejashwi, the RJD also feels that she can contest the elections alone. Besides, the party is cautious about the entry of former JNUSU president Kanhaiya Kumar into the Congress. Kanhaiya has good equations with Nitish, but his relationship with Tejashwi has been strained in the past.

The Congress, on the other hand, suspects that Lalu may have struck a deal with the BJP to make Tejashwi the next chief minister. Due to Nitish’s uneasy ties with the BJP recently, speculations are already rife that Nitish may contest the next election by keeping an equal distance from both the BJP and the RJD and allying with the Congress, the Left and other secular parties.

However, BJP is terming these speculations as pure fiction. Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi says Lalu Prasad is a “living symbol” of the long-standing misrule, mass exodus and corruption in Bihar. He tweeted, ‘RJD had also removed Lalu from its posters in the last assembly elections. “Now, he will only remind the public of the terrible times of genocide, kidnapping, dacoity, scams during his previous rule in Bihar.”

The former Deputy Chief Minister says that Lalu’s remarks on the state in-charge of Congress is a direct insult to the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. “If Congress has guts, then Sonia Gandhi should announce her break up with RJD in view of Lalu’s remarks on party’s Dalit leader Bhakt Charan Das,” he said.

But neither the RJD nor the Congress is in a hurry to formalize it at the national level. In fact, some NDA leaders suspect that Congress candidates from both the seats have been fielded only to create confusion about their alliance and to divide the votes of the opponents. The parties will be together again after the by-election is over, he argues.

However, political observers believe that with the entry of a flamboyant youth leader like Kanhaiya Kumar, the Congress is now looking to rebuild its fortunes in Bihar. Recently, Kanhaiya was warmly received by Congressmen when he came to Bihar to establish party roots in two other youth leaders of the party, Hardik Patel and Jignesh Mevani, both from Gujarat.

The grand old party, which has acted almost like a rudderless ship with frequent reshuffles of state presidents since they lost power in 1990, has no leader matching the stature of Nitish and Lalu in the last 30 years. Therefore. Now, Congressmen see a ray of hope in Kanhaiya, who had left the CPI to join his party. But the RJD is not affected by this. “Kanhaiya Kumar will prove to be another Navjot Singh Sidhu for the Congress, who, instead of saving the party, will ruin it,” says Shivanand Tiwari.

The truth is that RJD has never been infatuated with Kanhaiya. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Lalu’s party refused to field its candidate from Begusarai, where Kanhaiya was pitted against BJP’s Union minister Giriraj Singh, who later won by a huge margin in a triangular contest.

Political pundits believe that the RJD still does not want to create any ‘competition’ for Tejashwi by fielding a young leader like Kanhaiya in the alliance. The BJP also feels that the way the Congress is trying to get out of its shadow, the RJD has panicked. Bihar BJP spokesperson Nikhil Anand says, “The RJD is now very cautious, as Kanhaiya has joined the Congress.”

Be that as it may, the fate of the Grand Alliance depends on the outcome of the by-elections, which could have implications for politics beyond Bihar’s borders ahead of the 2024 general elections.

(It appeared in the print edition as “Headman, Chieftain and Sparks”)