Laloo8217;s desperate gamble

NEW DELHI, July 25: By replacing himself with his wife, Laloo has shown how desperate he has become. At one level, judging by the cynical c...

NEW DELHI, July 25: By replacing himself with his wife, Laloo has shown how desperate he has become. At one level, judging by the cynical criteria of politics, it is a shrewd, tactical move. Laloo has ensured that he continues to call the shots because his wife is a mere proxy. In a curious way, he has lived up to his bluster: 8220;I will rule Bihar from jail8221;.

At another level, however, it betrays the weakness of the Rashtriya Janata Dal. Throughout his seven years as chief minister, Laloo systematically stifled the growth of a second rank within his party. He rarely trusted any of his colleagues. His ministers seldom knew what their Chief Minister was doing. Dissent was punished. Even the once trusted MLAs, who worked out his successful 1995 Assembly election campaign, were snubbed because they told him during the Lok Sabha elections last year that his support base was not as formidable as he thought.

Ram Sunder Das, a former chief minister, was booted out from the presidentship of the state Janata Dal in 1993 when he was perceived as a threat by Laloo. Similar was the fate of the next state JD chief Ramai Ram when he tried to project himself as a Dalit leader in his own right. Laloo always made sure that no one else could project himself as a messiah of social justice in Bihar.

Part of this had to do with his unique style of image politics, his carefully cultivated image of a man who would deliver the backwards and the poor, who was always fighting the Establishment.

So he never allowed potential rivals like Ram Vilas Paswan to establish their roots in Bihar. The likes of Nitish Kumar had to leave the JD when they refused to play second fiddle to him. Indeed, Laloo decided to split the party and form the RJD not because he was not allowed to remain the JD chief.

In fact, he said he was ready to accommodate someone like Madhu Dandavate as the party chief but could not countenance another Yadav donning the mantle of the party leader. To some extent, Laloo8217;s autocratic behaviour can be attributed to the very nature of the party he leads.

Reared on the plank of anti-upper caste political assertion, political outfits like Laloo8217;s RJD in Bihar or Mulayam Singh Yadav8217;s Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh thrive on politics of fission, not fusion. They turn out to be essentially one-man shows. This, in a way, may explain their charisma but it also puts severe limits on their growth. In Uttar Pradesh, Mulayam has realised this and is trying to woo sections of upper castes.

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Laloo8217;s truncated RJD is also being forced to seek new friends in the Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Soren to survive. Rabri Devi, unlike NTR8217;s Parvathi, doesn8217;t provoke strong reactions in Bihar political circles. In the Laloo household, she has always been seen as his shadow, her public presence limited to token occasions, collecting the garlands his flunkeys pass on. It is her brother, Sadhoo Yadav, who is feared even by RJD loyalists.

With Rabari as Chief Minister and Laloo with the remote control, Bihar government is bound to be used as an instrument for carrying on Laloo8217;s fight against his calumniators, including the Central Bureau of Investigation. This means state sponsored bandhs and demonstrations after Laloo8217;s arrest and the persistent campaign against the Central agencies investigating the fodder scam. However, it remains to be seen how for a section of senior JD leaders will go along with Rabri. Some of them were hoping that Laloo would reward them for their loyalty and are bound to be disappointed.