THE PHONE CALL- STORY BEHIND RISE OF LALU PRASAD YADAV IN BIHAR

We usually discuss that youth of this country is not as politically aware as it should be. We often feel that this utmost teenage and almost adult population of India is not able to weigh out it’s priorities before voting for someone. Infact the ambitious youth of this country especially in urban regions likes to maintain a so-called ‘ Apolitical Stance’ which means they avoid taking stands in issues which demands black or white, this side or that side kind of opinion. Telling yourself that you want to stay apolitical in world’s largest democracy is somewhat similar to convincing your single friend that there are plenty of fish in the water and that he will eventually find his true love- Nothing but a petty deception.

Well but there’s this one state in India which crumbles this philosophy and throws it out of the window. The youth here may not be educated or employed but they are more politically informed than their leaders. The literacy rate of this state is just close to 70% making it the most illiterate state of this country. This state which almost tops every human development index parameter from bottom and is one of worst performing regions in terms of economics boasts a pretty flamboyant and rich political history. The state has been the center to most of the nationwide political pick up’s of this country whether it was pre-independence movements like Champaran or post-independence resistance movements like the JP-movement. For those of you who know which state I am talking about well and good, for those who still don’t get where I am going with my vivid description-well guys, Welcome to the state of Bihar, here we don’t give you straight up facts instead we present you with vivid descriptions and swirl around the topic like a jalebi. People here like to talk, discuss, debate, argue and express, they don’t hold back their opinions in an attempt to stay politically correct. That’s the reason elections in Bihar are always the talk of the entire country.

But this is not an article it’s a story- a story that aptly explains why Bihar is the center of Indian politics today. But before we move ahead with this story we should know the man around whom this story revolves- LALU PRASAD YADAV. You may call him the Goliath of politics in Bihar especially since the 90’s. This boy from Bihar’s Phulwaria entered politics through Patna University a place famous for changing the political discourse in Bihar. Yadav was elected to the parliament when he was just 29 making him the youngest MP at that time. He went on to rule the state thereafter and crowned himself as the poster boy of Bihar politics. This story will trace the story of Yadav’s rise to the chair of Chief Minister.

So here we begin…..

Let’s do some time-travel, let me take you to the morning of 8th March, 1990.

Situated on the banks of Ganga was the Brajkishore Hall of Patna. This hall was about to witness one of the biggest political mishaps in the history of Bihar. One that history would eventually term as the period of , “ JUNGLERAAJ”. The foundation of this political up-down was the result of the recent Bihar election. Results of the 1990 Bihar elections were announced on 27th February, 1990. Janta Dal emerged as the single largest party securing 120 seats in the 324 member assembly- a good number but yet not enough to form a single party government. Only shot at government formation was through a coalition. CPI was somehow able to squeeze 23 seats in this battle, JMM won 19, IPF 7 and CPM 6 all these parties extended their unconditional support to Janta Dal. Janta Dal also roped in some independents and somehow they touched the magical figure of 162. But one thing was sure- anyone who would be selected as the supremo of Janta Dal would succeed Jagannath Mishra as the Chief Minister of Bihar. There were two prime candidates for CM’s post- first was Ram Sundar Das, a Dalit leader who rose by fighting besides Karpuri Thakur. He had also served as CM of Bihar for a brief period of 303 days in 1989. He had the support of then Prime Minister V.P Singh. And this support was nothing less than a obstacle in the way of the second candidate- Lalu Prasad Yadav.

To understand this story properly you need to do some more time-travel with me. So let’s go a few years back in time. After decimation of Janta Dal into several smaller parts the faction which rose to prominence in Bihar was lead by Karpuri Thakur. Thakur died in Feb of 1988. Who would lead Janta Party in Bihar now ? This was the most sought question in everyone’s mind. Several names were proposed. Around the same time a Member of Parliament from Sonepur in Bihar had already established himself as one of the most influential face of Janta Party in Delhi. This man was none other than Lalu Prasad Yadav. Journalists who followed Yadav around that period are able to draw a perfect outline of how he looked and behaved- a long white kurta, an even longer shawl, white leather slippers and a permanent member of Janta Dal guerrilla meetings.

Yadav was a witty guy, he knew how to balance his scales out. On one hand he would mock leaders specifically those like Chandrashekhar who was then called the Young Turk of politics, mocking Chandrasekhar he once said that, “ V.P Singh is the personification of socialist justice, anyone who is against him is equivalent to the devil Kaalnemi whether it is an Arab or a Turk.” But just after a few days he was seen at Chandrashekhar’s residence holding his feet.

Lalu Prasad was not ready to wait for his political fortune. So he instantly laid his bet on dead Thakur’s political lineage and hence was selected as the assembly leader of Janta Dal. He defeated his political guru Anup Yadav in the process. Yadav was not sure about the results of the assembly elections that were about to be held in February, 1990 and hence he decided to field himself for the Lok Sabha Elections of 1989. He fought the election, won it and hence became an MP. This is how he got a three month period in Devi Lal’s durbar. Devi Lal who was himself a candidate for the post of India’s Prime Minister had withdrawn his candidature to help V.P Singh take the charge. But Devi Lal had enough power with him to control the functioning of V.P Singh government. The three month period in Delhi allowed Yadav to become one the prime confidants of Devi Lal.

Now let’s go back to 8th March, 1990. A lot of activity was going on inside the Brajkishore Hall of Patna in order to select the future Chief Minister of Bihar. Prime Minister V.P Singh had sent a team of three leaders to facilitate the selection of Chief Minister. These three leaders included Ajit Singh who was the son of former Prime Minister Chaudhary Charan Singh. Ajit had just returned after completing his degree from the coveted IIT Kharagpur and then his Masters from Illinois Institute of Technology. He was ambitious about establishing himself in Janta Dal and hence wanted to impress V.P Singh. He was eventually eyeing the throne of Uttar Pradesh and was hoping to clip wings of then UP C.M Mulayam Singh Yadav. The other two leaders were political veterans George Fernandez and Surendra Mohan. Yadav knew that if he has no confidants in the Facilitation Committee then his chances of getting selected are meagre almost tending to zero.

That’s where Yadav took advantage of his three month honeymoon period in Delhi. He called his political master Devi Lal. On Devi Lal’s cue two more members were added in the committee- then U.P Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav and a minster from the V.P Singh cabinet and Yadav’s friend Sharad Yadav. The committee landed in Patna on the evening of 7th March, 1990. The entire day of 8th March passed as the assembly was fighting amongst itself to select their future leader. Lalu Yadav accompanied by young Nitish Kumar was not ready to cave in without a fight. Lalu Yadav also found himself in trouble when his confidants Hukum Dev Narayan Yadav and Anup Yadav opposed his candidature. Both of them sided with Ram Sundar Das who as we already mentioned also had the support of the Prime Minister V.P Singh. Lalu Yadav sensed that this situation would wire down to voting amongst selected MLA’s, he also sensed that in any such scenario he would end up on the losing side. So Lalu Yadav decided to play his Trump Card.

He went to a leader whom he had once compared to Kaalnemi. He called Chandrashekhar and begged him to do something and this “ One Phone Call” changed the political discourse of Bihar forever. The young Turk at that time was one of the brightest political brains of this country. Chandrashekhar knew what to do. He asked his confidant Raghunath Jha to slam his claim for CM’s post. There was no way that Raghunath Jha would have won this battle, then why did Chandrashekhar ask him to file his nomination. Well we are about to know that.

Well things went down exactly as Yadav had predicted. The assembly was not able to agree upon one name and hence it was decided that candidates would vote for their future CM. About 120 odd members from the Janta Dal, 5 members from the Legislative Council and two independents who later roped into Janta Dal. A magical number of 127. Chits were distributed, everyone wrote their favourite name in their chit and posted it in the ballot box. This box was guarded by the Bihar Police. One faction was shouting , “ Ram Sundar Das Zindabad”, the other was shouting same slogan for Lalu Prasad Yadav, a small faction in between was shouting , “ Vishwanath in Delhi and Raghunath in Patna.” As decided by the facilitation committee the man with most votes would be selected as the leader of entire batch and also the future Chief Minister of Bihar.

The results of this count shocked everyone. Raghunath Jha as predicted was only able to get 12 votes, Lalu Prasad got 59 and ill fated and innocent Ram Sundar Das got 56. Chandrashekhar’s political master stroke hit the target bang on. He knew that Raghunath was nothing more than a dummy candidate but Raghunath Jha’s candidature roped in those twelve forward caste votes which would have otherwise gone in Ram Sundar Das’s favour. Ram Sundar Das lost this internal election by a margin of just 3 votes and Raghunath Jha got 12 votes all of which would have otherwise helped Das. That ONE PHONE CALL from Lalu Prasad Yadav made all the difference. Chandrashekhar’s masterstroke on that date was in scripted in the political history of Bihar.

And hence on 10th March, 1990 Lalu Prasad Yadav was sworn in as the 20th Chief Minister of Bihar and hence began a new period of political discourse that later lead to the rise of BJP and Nitish Kumar in the state hence dividing Bihar in three political poles. This was one of the many stories that have influenced the present day politics of Bihar. If you know more interesting stories then do write to me at mkmayankk909@gmail.com or you can also mail us at our club email handle mentioned in the blog.

Adios.