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Journalism of Courage
RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s plan to script his memoir on the circumstances leading to BJP leader LK Advani’s arrest during rath yatra,has generated reaction with his adversaries suggesting the former to concentrate on his work only.
“We should talk of Bihar’s development now and take up with the Centre our demand for according special state status to Bihar refraining from petty politics”,said JD(U) national spokesman Shivanand Tiwari on Wednesday.
“It will be better if Prasad concentrates on his work instead of engaging in an exercise which will be a futile one”,Tiwari said.
“It is not a new chapter… the matter has become very old and Prasad has spoken of writing a book on the rath yatra episode on several occasions in the past”,the JD(U) leader said.
Addressing Pasmanda Muslim Conference here on Monday,Lalu spelt out his plans to script a book on the incidents leading to the demolition of Babri Mosque in 1992.
Prasad,who has an LLB degree,had said,that he had to face a hard time in tackling the situation arising out of the demolition when he was Chief Minister of Bihar.
“I had to bear tremendous pressure from several bigwigs in executing my decision to arrest L K Advani during his ‘Rath Yatra’ in Bihar before the demolition,” he said.
Even RJD insiders and some close aides of Prasad,on the condition of anonymity,believe Lalu’s plan will boomerang on him as he was in a state of “dilemma” on the issue of stopping Advani’s rath yatra and getting the BJP leader arrested when he was chief minister.
“Prasad,who emerged as one playing an anti-communal card,had once disagreed to our sugegstions to get Advani’s rath stopped in Dhanbad,now now in Jharkhand,before it reached North Bihar to avoid communal problems”,they claim.
Prasad was Bihar’s Chief Minister at that time. “The former Chief Minister (Prasad) buckled under pressure from a group of people who were his political mentors who prevailed upon him to take the extreme step of stopping the rath yatra and arresting Advani to dump the latter at a guest house at Masanjore hill in Jharkhand”,a senior RJD leader confides.
“And then Lalu’s luck shone as he acquired the stature of an important leader in state and national politics”,he says.
Earlier,Prasad had also spoken of penning a book about “involving him in false and forged” cases related to the multi-crore rupees fodder scam in which he had already been chargesheeted.
