There are two ways, at least, of narrating the recent tumult in Congress-RJD equations. In one version, the Congress, ever the reluctant alliance-maker, is back to its old ways, acting all Big Brother, unilaterally sewing up the seat-sharing pact, never mind the claims and sensitivities of its allies. The second narrative casts Laloo Yadav in the role of the masterful manipulator, who is expertly coercing the grand old party to its knees. On the eve of Bihar polls, as Yadav issues the Congress a very loud threat on Saturday only to pipe down the next day, it will be unwise to rule out any version entirely. But what is clear is this: the battle for Bihar is going to push some large unresolved issues in India’s polity to the surface. What is the Congress’s strategy going to be, in the long term, to revive itself in its erstwhile strongholds, in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh? What does it mean to be Laloo Prasad Yadav in Bihar today, 15 years after he first rode to power on promises of a social justice that mostly continues to elude those of his people who need it the most?The Congress is in a piquant bind. The party is unexpectedly back in power at the Centre after long years in exile, and the atmospherics seem just right to revive itself in the states. This is what a vocal section of the Congress has been pushing for ever since May 13; this bravado is visible in its Bihar unit that bristled at the alliance with the RJD. Behind the brave talk is also the more sober realisation that if the Congress does not let go of Laloo’s coat-tails in Bihar while it can, there may not be much of a Congress left in Bihar. The party’s organisational disrepair in the state is no secret — it may not survive another election in which Laloo calls the shots. Ironically, that same organisational rot comes in handy to those who advocate the opposing line of action. With the Congress depleted as it is in Bihar, what hope does it have in striking out independently? And in the process, it will risk rocking the UPA boat at the Centre, where the RJD is a steadying hand. This is the edgiest political dilemma the Congress has faced in recent times. It is not yet clear whether the party can summon the tactical agility and the political sure-footedness required to face it.Yadav faces this election in markedly less certain times. There are early indications that the Muslims in Bihar may not rally as readily behind the RJD as they did, and that the anti-RJD grouping that does not include the BJP is becoming attractive. Indications also are that with the BJP becoming less of an issue in Bihar — after the May 13 rout at the Centre and after the formation of Jharkhand — attention may yet turn to the state’s development, or lack of it. Yadav may yet be felled by his own battle-cry if an imaginative opposition can connect the dots between social justice and the larger and inclusive agenda of the state’s development.
