Lalu Prasad Yadav – Maverick's big bet

Kamna Arora

Long accepted as maverick, Lalu Prasad Yadav is facing one of his biggest tests in 2014 as he tries to save his party from obscurity after the years out of power. A subject of hundreds of jokes, Lalu has an uncanny ability to read the vibrations in the political theatre of Bihar.

A wonderful crowd puller, Lalu's journey from a student leader of the 1970s to one of the India's best-known politicians is full of twists and turns.

Lalu Prasad amuses with his down-to-earth attitude when he is seen milking cows at his official residence or eating rotis being baked by his wife; but what made him catch attention was his dramatic arrest of LK Advani, the BJP leader who had his 'Rath' rolled into Bihar in 1990. He built a strong Yadav-Muslim support base in the 1990s during the Ayodhya hullabaloo.

Born into a farmers' family in June 1948, Lalu Prasad tasted his first electoral success in 1977, when he entered into Parliament at age 29. It marked the beginning of his active political innings. After registering, though not so notable, presence in the Lok Sabha from 1977 to 1980, Lalu Prasad was elected twice to the Bihar Assembly.

Lalu Prasad ruled Bihar as the Chief Minister between 1990 and 1997. He walked away from the Janata Dal in 1997 and formed the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

Lalu Prasad, who had returned to the Lok Sabha in 1998, allied with the Congress. His party became a key member of the Congress-led UPA alliance in 2004 and Lalu Prasad became the railway minister. In a surprise, Lalu Prasad turned around the loss-making Indian Railways into a profitable venture.

His caste-based politics and anti-development stance did not do any good to the state. He was slammed for virtually destroying Bihar and turning it into a de facto 'jungle Raj'. Not economy and social development, but the kidnapping mafia flourished in and around Patna. Fodder scam further proved to be his nemesis. After much chaos, the scam pushed Lalu to finally quit the CM post in 1997. He was still ruling the state, indirectly though, when his wife Rabri Devi was made the Chief Minister of the state between 1997 and 2005.

On September 30, 2013, Lalu Prasad, another former Bihar chief minister Jagannath Mishra and 43 others were convicted by a special CBI court in the fodder scam case involving fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from Chaibasa Treasury during the Prasad-led RJD regime. Lalu Prasad lost his membership of Parliament after being convicted in the case. In December 2013, the Supreme Court granted bail to the RJD chief.

He is famous for entertaining people by claiming how he could turn Japan into a Bihar, one of the India's most backward states, or to make Bihar's roads as smooth as actress Hema Malini's cheeks.

Out on bail, Lalu realises that the political wave is turning towards Modi-powered BJP and hence he has gone all out to check the rise of the saffron party in the state.

He seems to have taken his old opponent Nitish Kumar as a spent force as he is training his guns on Modi.

Lalu says he well stop Modi as he had stopped LK Advani. He has set his eyes on the Muslim vote given his confidence that Yadavs will stick with him.

The famed 'MY' combination may propel him to a position of importance post May 16, ensuring that he emerges as a key player in government formation if Modi falters on the last lap.