How a jailed Lalu gives PM Modi and NDA shivers in Bihar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, himself leading the poll campaign from the front, has also engaged an army of top party leaders and ministers for the task. A simultaneous social media campaign is also on. In Bihar, chief minister Nitish Kumar and his JD(U) is also on the BJP’s side. To their advantage, the mighty Lalu Prasad, president of the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), is not around to counter them as he is in jail for the past 16 months. Yet, the PM and his NDA do not look very confident of winning elections in Bihar even in his absence. In other words, Prasad remains a major worry for the ruling coalition despite being in prison.

Not a cakewalk

The PM and company had, perhaps, thought it would be a cakewalk for the NDA in Bihar with Lalu Prasad in jail and most of the latter’s family doing the rounds to courts in various graft cases. But the situation seems to be throwing up more challenges than ever to the PM as is evident from some of the election speeches.

From lower-rung leaders to the PM, the attack is almost always aimed at Lalu Prasad and his previous regime. Prasad remains the target even though the NDA has a plethora of issues to raise at the rallies — the IAF’s surgical strikes, Pakistan, Massod Azhar, Ram temple, grant of 10 per cent reservation to the poor among upper castes, the National Register of Citizens and finally Modi government’s own achievements. Yet, Lalu Prasad and his M-Y (Muslim-Yadav) equation have single-handedly neutralized all the arrows in the NDA quiver. The panic in the NDA is palpable as they are unwilling to spare Lalu. Speakers always harp back to the ‘lawlessness’ of the Lalu regime. This amply indicates that the NDA’s usual electoral speeches, raking up the usual issues, are not working in Bihar.

Modi’s charge

The masses were amused when the Prime Minister, after giving an account of the Balakot air strike, suddenly switched to Lalu Prasad and narrated how the latter ran a ‘Jungle Raj.’ “Main Bihar ke logon ko sawdhan kar raha hun. Unki takat badane ka maksad hai Bihar mein fir se lootpat ke din us daur ko walas lana…. unaki takat badane ka matlab hai suraj dhalane ke baad apane hi ghar mein kaid ho jana (I am alerting the people of Bihar — if they [Opposition] gain strength, it would mean a return of loot, kidnap, corruption, hooliganism, and murder to Bihar),” the PM told an election rally in Muzaffarpur town last week. He then threatened to send the corrupt opposition leaders to jail soon. “Beete panch varsh mein in logon ko bail lene ke liye mazboor kiya hai. Bail tak pahuchaya hai. Aab jail bhi bhijwane ki puri taiyari hai (Many such leaders are out on bail or on the verge of going to jail. Efforts are on now to send them to jail too),” the PM said.

Nitish too joins in

He is not alone in attacking the jailed Lalu Prasad. Bihar chief minister and the BJP’s new political friend Nitish Kumar has just made it a habit to launch attacks. “The husband-wife government worked for their own development. They hardly worked in the interests of the people of Bihar,” Nitish Kumar said recently. He also targets the poll symbol of the RJD. “Now there is no need for the lantern [RJD’s poll symbol] anymore as every house has a power connection,” Nitish Kumar says.

BJP chief Amit Shah made personal attacks on Lalu Prasad and his wife, Rabri Devi. “An atmosphere of happiness gripped the country after the Balakot airstrike except for two places which remained in a state of mourning — first, Pakistan and second, the family of Lalu-Rabri. Their facial expression gave enough hint to the agony within as if they had lost a close kin,” Shah said at election rallies in Jharkhand’s Palamu district last month.

Muslim-Yadav consolidation

Experts say the panic in the NDA is about the strong consolidation of Muslims and Yadavs in the aftermath of Lalu Prasad’s jailing. The general complaint is that while several people facing serious criminal charges, such as Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur, is out on bail and contesting elections, the RJD president had been denied bail by the court. Sadhvi, who faces terror charges is the BJP’s Bhopal candidate against Congress leader Digvijay Singh.

“Repeated verbal attacks on Lalu Prasad and his family highlight the utter desperation in the BJP camp. The BJP has failed to neutralize the Lalu factor despite all attempts,” commented prominent political expert DM Diwakar of the AN Sinha Institute of Social Studies, Patna.

He said all issues raked up by the PM had failed to work in Bihar so far. “He (PM) began with Ram temple, cow protection, 10 per cent reservation to upper castes, NRC, Pulawama terror attack, and Balakot air strike. But all issues have flopped now as the masses are now tired of hearing them. So, the PM is raising one issues after another to somehow maintain the momentum of the poll campaign,” he said.