Political Diary
New Delhi, 5 October 2013
Lalu’s Apocalypse
HOLDING CANDLE TO FUTURE
By Poonam I Kaushish
The chickens came home to roost as the curtain rang down on
the 17-year long Lalu Yadav saga. Which culminated in the RJD President earning
another ignominious feather, becoming the second politician to be stripped of
his Lok Sabha membership and regaled to five years behind bars in the infamous chara ghotala case. As the rustic-yokel-turned-gentleman mulls his new life in jail,
what will come of his brand: “Jab tak
rahega samose main aaloo, tab tak rahega Bihar
main Lalu!”
Underscoring, a story of political malfeasance and assiduous
cultivation of low morality for a place in high political society. Wherein,
politics has everything to do with acceptability, little with credibility and
public life is all compromises, not principles dripping morality sermons but
not practicing it.
Of a leader whose USP is based on the postulate of
Parliamentary democracy: Power from the people. Brand Lalu made its debut in
1990, marking a turning point in Indian polity, thanks to Mandalization. A new
Made-in-India era of politics wherein a chaprasi’s
son rose to “Shri Prasad”, the neta-Minister. Simplistically speaking,
he charismatically questions his compatriots: “Kya ek chaprasi ka beta mukhya mantra ban sakta hai?” Leaving the
historians to interpret the answer to his ascendency.
A husband who converted his 1990 “malai” raj into the 1997 wife “Rabri”
raj with both lording over Bihar for 15 years in which Bihar
sat on the bottom rung of every socio-economic ranking in the country. A man who cared two hoots about political
niceties and trashed democratic norms. A neta
who symbolizes a brand of survival politics --- at its crudest. To use Lalu's
jargon “jiski lathi uski bhains”.
Akin to a swap between empowerment of the potent MY (16%
Muslim + 12% Yadav) voters combination and economic progress. “Why do we need
cars, Bihar has no roads?” Adding, “The poor
use lanterns, so what will you do with electricity?” His reasoning was simple.
Economic development does not get votes. “Do you really want a road so that
people can speed through your village in their big cars?’ And he was proven
right more often than not. No matter it
brought the State to a standstill.
But despite all this Lalu managed to survive and stay
relevant for close to 20 years, as Chief Minister then Union Railway Minister
till his luck ran out and the long arm of law caught up. Raising a moot point:
What lesson does his story tell?
Undeniably, Lalu holds a mirror to the brazen and shameless
manipulation of the system where our netagan
have collectively taken advantage of it. If politics is a game of numbers and
occupying the kursi the goal, all of
them stand accused. In the coalition politics milieu see how the Congress-led
UPA Government can be held to ransom by a regional satrap on a warpath. Sonia
and her 216 MPs have to grovel before Ajit Singh’s 5 MPs RLD.
Lalu’s only crime is that he openly debunked probity as
moral nonsense. Recall 1997 when he cocked a snook and stumped all by asking:
“Where does the Constitution say that a Chief Minister duly elected by his
people should resign merely on being charge-sheeted by policemen. I will rule
from the jail.” No doubt, he is at fault
But at the same time he has exposed the hypocrisy of the
political tribe. As long as he was part of the Establishment, all willy nilly
winked at his misdemeanors’ letting him misuse and abuse the legal lacuna to
his advantage till he ran out of legal lacunas. Even now, witness the guarded
statement by staunch ally Congress and the ‘secular’ parties, “We-bow-before-law”.
Sic. Translated, it reads, we will be back to playing footsie if and when he
gets reprieve from the high court.
Besides, Lalu has brought to the fore striking moral aspects
of governance. Whereby, an honest person is perceived as one who does not get
caught given that the UPA has been unable to convince anyone about its anti-corruption
credibility. Thanks to the surfeit of scandals earning UPA II the ignominy of Republic of Scams, 2G con, Adarsh, CWG, Coalgate et al.
What next? Today, with General elections slated mid-2014, Lalu
has limited political utility for the Congress; notwithstanding Sonia’s alleged
‘soft spot’ for him ever since he was the first publicly support her in 1997.
In fact, the ill-fated ordinance to negate the July Supreme Court order that
struck down a provision in the electoral law which allowed an MP-MLA to
continue in their post if they appealed to the higher court within three months
was reportedly aimed at protecting the RJD Chief in the immediate.
On the fallacious premise that by protecting him, the
RJD-Congress could muster 25 Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 polls else his Yadav
vote-bank would desert him and the Congress would get nothing. Alas, now, when
his fortunes are clearly being eclipsed, Lalu forgot that with just four MPs
his Party’s MY base has also shrunk putting him on a weak footing in Bihar. Alongside he has limited appeal in a scenario
where his bête noire Nitish Kumar has introduced a new element: Good
governance.
But, it is too early to write off Lalu. In politics never
say die. In India’s
dynasty driven politics, his sons Tej Pratap and Tejasvi have risen to take the
Party forward. But they are not Lalu. Add to this, his brother-in-law Sadhu
Yadav and others are laying a claim to the leadership.
Perhaps, history will treat Lalu Yadav and his ilk
generously. Of a mass leader who exposed the rank hypocrisy of our flourishing
political tribe. A maverick who took on the entire Establishment and dared it
to dispense with him till nemesis caught up. The optimist will, no doubt,
assert that it takes poison to kill poison.
In sum, let not Nirad Chaudhri’s words in his Book, “Three
Horseman of the New Apocalypise” ring true. Said he: “The most striking aspect
of governance in India after
the gift of Independence
by the British is its total falsity. Nothing is authentic, nothing sincere”. There
is no gainsaying that the Laloo narrative should make our netagan do a double-take, “Politics might no longer be the last
refuge of a scoundrel”. ---- INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
|