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Journalism of Courage
With less than three months to go before the Bihar Assembly elections, alliances and issues are still a matter of speculation, but two things are for sure. One, there cannot be a rapprochement between Laloo Prasad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan, warring colleagues in the Union Cabinet. Two, Paswan has emerged as the most credible challenger to Laloo — a fact that anti-Laloo parties cannot ignore.
On Monday, Laloo trained his guns on Paswan again, calling him ‘‘chieftain of criminals’’, and threatening a probe into some purchases made by the railways during the latter’s tenure as minister. ‘‘Ramvilas claims to be honest but no force on earth can save him the moment I make some files public,’’ Laloo said.
On Saturday, Paswan had called Laloo ‘‘fodder thief’’, and later accused him of intimidating Lok Janashakti Party workers. ‘‘Laloo is using the police and administration to harass our workers and even journalists who write about him,’’ Paswan said. ‘‘Laloo and his gang of tainted ministers have become an embarrassment for the Union government.’’
Those who thought Paswan’s stand against Laloo was merely a tool for better seat bargain have been taken aback by the aggressiveness. ‘‘RJD electoral calculations so far accounted for the possibility of alliance with Paswan too. That is no longer the case,’’ an RJD MP said.
Paswan’s rally on Saturday — the first of any political party this season — has been termed ‘‘impressive’’ by each local newspaper and has alerted Laloo. One popular daily has even compared it to ‘‘JP’s rally in 1974, calling for change.’’ Laloo’s outbursts soon after, perhaps, betrayed his nervousness. Adding more credibility to Paswan’s challenge are the bureaucrats, who are no longer putting all their eggs in Laloo’s basket.
Several upper caste sections have already pledged support to Paswan and the rally showcased his newly-inducted gang of upper caste strongmen — Suraj Bhan Singh, Rajan Tiwari and Munna Shukla.
With a militant section of Dalits already behind him, Paswan is now pitching for Muslims, Laloo’s trusted base. In 60-odd meetings that he addressed over the last month, he has tried to convince Muslims that ‘‘Laloo cannot be trusted. He is nobody’s man and he has not given you anything.’’ As of now, Muslim pockets are only giving a patient hearing and have shown no inclination to leave Laloo. With the Muslim-Yadav combination still beyond any credible threat, Laloo is still Bihar’s most important leader. But the debate over the second most important leader in the state has been settled in favour Paswan.
