Lalu Prasad Yadav At 72: Despite Corruption Cases Why Does RJD Supremo Still Remain A Popular Figure?

Lalu Prasad Yadav celebrates his 72nd birthday today. Although his leadership is mired by corruption charges he is still a big part of popular culture.

Lalu Prasad Yadav (Source: PTI)

New Delhi: Indian politician and former Chief Minister of Bihar Lalu Prasad Yadav celebrates his 73^rd birthday this year from the Birsa Munda jail of Ranchi. The founder and president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal party from Bihar, Lalu was imprisoned after he was convicted in 2018 for a fourth fodder scam. He was shifted to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences RIMS due to deteriorating health. Corruption has been lasting memory and the undoing of RJD’s rule in Bihar. It is in sharp contrast to the leader’s early days when he began his political career as a student leader standing against corruption in the state. Lalu had joined Janata Dal leader Jai Prakash Narayan's Bihar Movement in 1974, which was started to fight against rising corruption in the state, social justice, and dissolution of Bihar assembly. He quickly became popular among the Janata Dal leaders and in 1990 when the party came to power and there was a clash of opinions the nomination for chief minister post, he not only became the preferred alternative choice but won an internal poll of Janta Dal MLA's. Also Check: Lalu Yadav turns 72 today, RJD to not celebrate leader's b'day Despite waning political power in Bihar, Yadav’s popularity is still intact. Much has to do with how he has portrayed himself as a leader for social justice and a symbol of power for people from the lower castes in Bihar. In 1996, he even fielded Bhagwati Devi, a woman from the Mushahar caste considered to be the lowest in caste hierarchy for parliamentary elections from the Gaya seat. These gestures even if just symbolic made him popular among the lower castes and he was considered as the voice of the subalterns. But his rule in Bihar was riddled with corruption and blatant abuse of power which the opposition never fails to emphasize.

गरीबों का नाम लेकर लालू ने एके-47 वालों की सरकार चलाई... pic.twitter.com/Xtb9wSYlCf

— Sushil Kumar Modi (@SushilModi) June 11, 2020

One of the biggest ones is the Fodder scam, in which Yadav and Jagannath Mishra, who was the chief minister for the state three times in the 70s and the 80s became the prime accused. The scam involved the embezzlement of government funds by producing fake bills which amounted to Rs 945-crores. He was first accused of the scam in 1996 when it was found that the animal husbandry department had made withdrawals of over Rs 1,000 crore. It led to his resignation in 1997 (in which he made his wife Rabri Devi who was till then a homemaker as the chief minister of the state). In 1998, Yadav along with his wife was also charged with Disproportionate Assets. In 2013, Yadav along with 44 others was convicted by Patna CBI court for fodder scam. Also, known for his sharp jibes against the opposition and his distinctive election campaigning in which he brings out his rustic roots, Yadav may be a waning power in Bihar but is still a big part of popular culture. JDU launches poster war on Lalu's  birthday: For his 72nd birthday opposition party, Janata Dal (United) released posters with details of 72 properties which were allegedly acquired by Lalu and his family, using his power and political influence. The poster was put just beside the poster put up by RJD leaders, wishing Yadav on his birthday, Some interesting facts about Lalu and his governance

• He is called Mitti ka Gaurav or Pride of the Soil of Bihar
• He and his wife have seven children- 2 sons and 5 daughters. Three of them Tej Pratap Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav, and Misa Bharti have also joined politics.
• He was just 29 when he was elected to the 6th Lok Sabha in 1977
• In 1993 Lalu Prasad Yadav as a chief minister of Bihar adopted a pro-English policy for schools.
• He was constantly portrayed as a savior of social justice in school textbooks of Bihar. According to a 2004 report by India Today, articles and poems praising Lalu Prasad Yadav were included in primary school textbooks.
• In 1990, he ordered the arrest of BJP leader L. K. Advani at Samastipur when the latter planned a Ram Rath Yatra to Ayodhya. In his book Gopalganj to Raisina: My Political Journey he said he did this to maintain communal peace in the state which had seen a severe one in 1989. He has written that one of his first announcements as chief minister was ‘Chahey mera raj rahega ya jayega, hum dangaiyon ko chhodengein nahin’ (Whether my government lives or falls, I will not spare the rioters).

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