Will to power

Perfect candour is something weve come to expect from Lalu Prasad Yadav. His salty,straight-shooting style is a large part of his phenomenal political charisma. Now,for the first time in fifteen years,he is neither a force in government or in the opposition and yet,he appears remarkably Zen about it all. In Delhi,people will welcome you with bouquets and flowers if you have the numbers. I dont,he says,without a trace of self-pity,simply stating the fact that a leader without numbers is nothing,no matter how large a shadow he cast before the election.

Lalu Prasad Yadav has ridden many crests from his 1977 triumph as a Janata Party candidate,his role in the fragmentation of Janata politics and as a Mandal legatee,to his national moment in the sun when he put an end to Advanis rath yatra,and even,all too recently,his reinvention as a Union railways minister who could teach Harvard MBAs a thing or two. He has also survived several political near-death experiences. So how conclusive is this electoral failure? For all his swagger,this time he ended up doing far worse than the most dispiriting media estimate. But as results came in,there was no flailing around for answers he processed the political turnaround instantly,admitting that his stock with the Congress had now severely depreciated.

Try again. Fail again. Fail better. That famous Beckettian formulation has been internalised by most seasoned politicians,but we,the watchers tend to have our fields of vision distorted by the need for immediately digestible narratives. Lalu Prasad Yadav might or might not pull off a next round. Our recent history is also littered with those who were genuinely left behind by fresher politics and personalities V.P Singh was a case in point. But no matter how tempting it is to construct little plots and glean morals from political setbacks,all we know is that we never know enough.