Road-dividers being painted is not a common sight in Patna but it’s for the good of the cause. Or, so Laloo Prasad Yadav would have you believe. Never the one to put up a common show, the RJD chief’s lathi rally on Wednesday is already squeezing the city: private schools will remain shut two days and all roads will be ‘‘dedicated’’ to rally buses trundling in from every district centre. Pandals are being erected in all ministerial bungalows to welcome the crowds which, according to Laloo loyalist and Bihar Social Welfare Minister Pitambar Paswan, will be not less than 25 lakh. The present podium on the western side of the Gandhi maidan, the rally venue, would have made the crowd face the evening sun. So, a concerned Laloo has ordered a new podium on the northern side of the ground. Booths for water and refreshments are coming up in all corners of the city with banners proclaiming which leader has provided for it. All MLAs and leaders have been assigned specific tasks, ranging from the number of people they are to bring to town to logistical support. And, each one is trying to prove worthy of the leader’s trust. But the RJD’s preparations have brought the life of commoners to a standstill. Private schools in Patna will remain closed on Tuesday and Wednesday. Virtually, all private buses in Patna and other district centres have been dedicated to the rally, ‘‘voluntarily,’’ affirms Shivanand Tiwari, spokesperson of RJD. ‘‘Forcibly,’’ alleges Sushil Kumar Modi, BJP legislative leader. Either way, Damodar Shankar from Hajipur who landed up in Patna this afternoon to catch a bus to Purnea is stranded in Patna’s Harding bus-stand. Not a single bus there. On a normal day, 400 buses ply from there to different locations in Bihar and outside. Shopkeepers say they are likely to close shops from Tuesday afternoon. ‘‘Not for fear of violence. People might refuse to pay on that day after buying things,’’ explains Vipul, a tea-shop owner on Bailey Road. Many have already received demands for hefty sums of money for the rally fund. Some have been forced to oblige in kind. In the form of posters or mustard oil to soak the thousands of lathis. ‘‘The sales-tax department officials are forcing traders to shell out money and the police are threatening transporters to provide vehicles,’’ says Modi. Virtually every commercial hoarding in the city has been overwritten with rally slogans —‘‘Bhajapa bhagao, Bharat bachao, Bush bhagao, duniya bachao’’ — and names of RJD leaders, Laloo’s brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav being the most prominent. RJD leaders are not exactly bothered about allegations. ‘‘Yes, there is competition among our leaders to bring more people. Wherever and whenever a rally occurs, vehicle owners help political parties. There is nothing unusual about it. Only because we are the ruling party, allegations are raised against us, but they are baseless,’’ says RJD spokesperson Shivanand Tiwari. He refuses to cite any estimated turnout for the rally, but says it will be ‘‘the biggest Bihar has ever seen.’’ Pitambar Paswan says every corner of Bihar has been mobilsed for the rally. Local units have been entrusted with the task of providing lathis for the rallyists but, according to reports, several truckloads of bamboo were brought from Assam. In Patna City, shops selling lathis have run out of stock and prices have gone up to Rs 15 for a 7 feet piece of bamboo from Rs 10 last week. Buchu Ahmad, a shop keeper in Patna’s new market, sold 2000 lathis in the last week. In a usual week, he sells one tenth of that. Modi says Laloo’s lathi rally is an attempt to ‘‘terrorise opponents,’’ and ‘‘capture booths in the next Parliament elections,’’ but Laloo dismisses such allegations. ‘‘Lathi is for self-defence. If the RSS-BJP can distribute trishul and terrorise people, why can’t we use lathi? The lathi is not a weapon. It’s used by farmers for self-defence,’’ Laloo shouts. ‘‘It is in Bihar that we started all movements that thwarted existing regimes. Through this rally, we will tell the world to reject Bush and tell India to reject BJP. This will spread through the entire country,’’ Laloo explains his rather immodest political plans, answering why is he raising the anti-VHP pitch in a state where it is not active. Will he be the prime minister candidate in such an anti-BJP movement? ‘‘I am never after power. Don’t you know that?’’ Laloo drowns the question with another volley of neatly crafted anti-BJP arguments.
