PM Modi, Amit Shah invoke ‘jungle raj’: How was the term first associated with Bihar

Jungle raj is often used by critics to describe the 15-year period when the RJD’s Lalu Prasad and his wife Rabri Devi were at the helm of affairs in Bihar. The allegation is that the state saw a high rate of crimes in that period, with the government not making enough efforts to establish law and order.

How did the term originate, why has it stuck to Bihar, and how has the RJD dealt with it?

Origin of the term ‘jungle raj’ for Bihar

Before the Opposition picked up the term and ran with it, ‘jungle raj’ had been used by the Patna High Court in a civic issues context in August 1997. A month ago, Lalu, implicated in the fodder scam, had resigned and Rabri Devi had been sworn in as CM. Amid the political turmoil, urban governance, never exactly a hallmark of the Lalu regime, had been pushed further to the backseat.

The oral observation about jungle raj was made when a Division Bench of Justice V P Singh and Justice Dharampal Sinha was hearing a contempt petition filed by social activist Krishna Sahay, over waterlogging and poor drainage in Patna following monsoon showers.

A Business Standard report from August 6, 1997, says, “It is worse than the Jungle Raj and there is no regard to court directions and public interest, the judges observed, expressing concern over the civic amenities in Patna.”

Soon, the term would be associated with the RJD as a whole, to accuse its government of lawlessness and complicity in crimes. BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi is believed to be among those who popularised the term through frequent usage, before, of course, PM Modi himself.

How Lalu Yadav countered ‘jungle raj’ allegations

Ahead of the 2000 Assembly elections, ‘jungle raj’ was being widely used to attack Lalu Prasad. However, ever the canny politician, Lalu turned the term around on the Opposition, claiming that to them, Bihar looked like a ‘jungle’ because the lower castes were in power.

Veteran journalist Sankarshan Thakur, in his book The Brothers Bihari, writes that Lalu would tell people on his campaigns, “Do you know why they call this jungle raj? Because under Lalu Yadav, you the poor, underprivileged people have for the first time been able to live with your heads held high and the upper castes have been deprived of their dominance. When they say they want to finish jungle raj, what they actually mean is that they want to end your raj, the raj of the poor people of Bihar, the upper castes want to come back and lord over you again.”

His appeal worked, and the RJD emerged as the single largest party in that year’s election. While the state Governor first invited Nitish Kumar to form the government, Rabri Devi was eventually sworn in and lasted the full term till 2005.

Jungle raj today

Deft political messaging by a popular leader aside, ‘jungle raj’ has indeed been an albatross round the RJD’s neck. The RJD’s Chief Minister face today, Tejashwi Yadav, was barely 16 when his parents lost power in 2005. Yet, before every election, he has to battle the fears that the RJD coming to power will bring back jungle raj.

So what was so awful in the Bihar of 25 years ago? Crime was indeed high, especially a spate of kidnappings for ransom, and caste-based clashes. However, the period also saw political assertion among the historically disadvantaged castes. Many have claimed that the ‘jungle raj’ claims have been exaggerated by those opposed to the brand of social justice Lalu championed, and that while Bihar always saw caste-based violence, Lalu simply made sure that the other side could fight back.

As Thakur puts it in his book, “In a way what Laloo Yadav said during the campaign was right — the NDA was shouting jungle raj because Bihar under Laloo Yadav was not a jungle dominated by the upper castes; that was what the BJP wanted to create and would have created — a jungle where the upper castes hunted.”