Lalu Prasad Yadav

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Lalu Prasad
Lalu Prasad Yadav

Lalu Prasad Yadav at a political rally in January 2007, at Kesariya, Bihar, India.
Constituency Chapra
Born 11 June 1948 (1948-06-11) (age 59)
Gopalganj, Bihar
Political party RJD
Spouse Rabri Devi
Children 2 sons and 7 daughters
Residence Patna
As of September 25, 2006
Source: [5]

Lalu Prasad Yadav, sometimes spelt as Laloo Prasad[1] or Lalloo Prasad, (Devanāgarī: लालू प्रसाद यादव) Lālu Prasād (born June 11, 1948 Goplaganj, Bihar[2]) is an Indian politician from the state of Bihar. He is currently the Minister of Railways in the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and the president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, he is also one of the few ministers to be charged and investigated in a number of corrupt cases who trasformed the politics in the state of Bihar into 'kitchen' politics by appointing his wife after corrpution charges were framed against him. Until recently the governing political party in Bihar. He is currently a Member of Parliament in the 14th Lok Sabha from the Chhapra constituency. He is known for his charismatic leadership and mass appeal among some of the so-called backward castes and religious minorities,[3][4] as well as his notorious corruption cases and explicit caste-based politics.[4]

Earlier, Lalu served as Chief Minister of Bihar from 1990-1997, when he was forced to resign following escalating corruption charges in the Fodder scam.

Contents

Lalu Prasad Yadav was born poor in family of farmers in Phulwaria, Gopalganj district, Bihar to Kundan Rai and Marachhiya Devi.

On June 1, 1973 he married Rabri Devi. The two have two sons and seven daughters. According to him, his large family is a protest against the forced sterilization during the Indian Emergency (1975 - 77) declared by Indira Gandhi.[5].

His eldest daughter is Misa Bharati, whose first name is interestingly based on an act, the Maintenance of Internal Security Act, that provided the police an independent authority in certain cases to arrest and detain persons, in public interest, without court's permission in the late 1970s.[5]. He is naturalist in his religious beliefs. Subhash Yadav, who has been accused of several criminal cases, is the brother of Lalu's wife.

Lalu's first political step was his active involvement in the elections of the Patna University Students' union. He led the student movement inspired by Jai Prakash Narayan in the 1970s. The former Chief Minister of Bihar and the then President of Bihar State Janata Party,senior leader Satyendra Narayan Sinha[6] (Who was affectionately called Chhote Saheb) placed him as a candidate for Lok Sabha and campaigned for him. He was subsequently elected as a member of 6th Lok Sabha on a Janata Party ticket at only 29 years of age, becoming one of the youngest members of the Indian Parliament then.

In a span of 10 years, he became a formidable force in Bihar State Politics. During the Indian general elections in 1989 and state assembly elections, he successfully led the National Front coalition in Bihar. It was, therefore, no surprise that he was elected the Chief Minister leaving behind Ram Sundar Das, a former chief minister from Janata Party when the Party came to power in the 1990 Assembly elections. The World Bank lauded his party[7] for its work in the 1990s on the economic front.

According to the BBC, the police unearthed a Fodder Scam in 1996 worth Rs 950 crore (US$ 267 Million) in Bihar (dating back to the previous Congress Government) which allegedly involved Lalu and the State's leading bureaucrats and politicians, albeit the probe itself was ordered by him. To some people it is seen as counter by opposition to stop his unprecedented political growth.[8] The fodder scam forced Mr. Yadav to resign from the office of Chief Minister[9] and he elected his wife, Rabri Devi, as his successor.

He formed the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in 1997, after breaking away from the Janata Dal. According to Limca Book of Records, he is the longest serving president of an Indian Political Party.[10]

But despite ruling the State of Bihar for 15 years, in November 2005 elections, his party, the RJD could win just 54 seats, which put his party in third place, after the Janata Dal United(JDU) and the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP).

Lalu Prasad Yadav was elected to the 14th Lok Sabha from Chhapra and Madhepura seats of Bihar. He was made the railway minister in the UPA Government. Later, he gave up the Madhepura seat.

He made the following controversial achievements during his ongoing stint as the Union Railway Minister:

  • He banned plastic cups used for serving tea at railway stations and announced that they would be replaced by kulhads (earthen cups). He claimed this would generate more rural employment.[11] Later, he also said that he had plans to introduce buttermilk[12] and khadi[13] for the railway passengers to generate more rural employment and reduce pollution.
  • In June 2004, he announced that he would travel by the Railways to get a firsthand experience of the problems faced by the Indian public and went on to make an inspection of the Patna railway station at midnight.[14]

When Yadav took over, the Indian Railways was a loss-making organization. The Rakesh Mohan Committee (headed by Rakesh Mohan, secretary, department of economic affairs) had termed it a 'white elephant' and predicted it would hit Rs 61,000 crore (US$15.4 billion) in bankruptcy by 2015.[15] The only solution seemed to be privatization.

Defying all these predictions, the Railways booked a surplus of Rs 110 billion (U$2.47 billion).[16] Lalu Prasad Yadav is now credited with engineering the financial turnaround of Indian Railways, that was on the verge of bankruptcy before his appointment to the office. He left passenger fares untouched and found several other profitable sources of revenue for the Railways. He also improved on his first year's performance by stating a profit of 14,000 crores with decreased freight and unchanged passenger fares in 2006. Then, in the 2007 budget, he increased the profit level to 20,000 crores with the introduction of cushion seats in all unreserved compartments.

He announced this turnaround during his Budget-Speech-06-07 in these words:

“ Sir, I take pride in informing this House that in the first nine months of the year 2005-06, the Railways’ output has been record breaking. The growth in freight loading is 10% and in freight revenues it is over 18%. Based on the trends up to now, the freight loading target is being increased from 635 mt to 668 mt and the goods revenues target from Rs. 33,480 cr to Rs. 36,490 cr. Thus, Railways would achieve incremental freight loading of 111 mt in two years itself, which will be 133% higher as compared to the incremental loading of 83 mt of entire Ninth Five Year Plan period. Tenth Plan targets of 624 mt loading and 396 billion tonne kilometers have been surpassed one year in advance. Sir, I not only hope but firmly believe that we would surpass the Tenth Five Year Plan’s incremental target of 63 billion tkm for freight business by over 200%. ).[17] ”

Well-known schools of management were interested in his techniques in engineering the turnaround.[18] He addressed over a hundred students from Harvard, Wharton and others in Hindi. He has received invitations from 8 Ivy League schools [19]

The turnaround of the Indian Railways is now being studied by the students of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.[20].Prof G. Raghuram, a faculty member, IIM-A , has already conducted a detailed study on the Railways turnaround.[21]

Many books have been written in praise of Lalu by local writers including Lalu Chalisa and Lalu Hala (especially by fellow Yadavs). There are entertainers who mimic Lalu as a profession. According to a media report, many local barbers and saloons are earning handsome money by offering what they call the `Lalu style hair cut`. A barber of Hajipur was quoted saying,"The style is a craze among the youths and even policemen".[22] Others might view these as people making deliberate fun of Lalu.

Lalu has been recognised as brand among a few industries in rural Bihar.[23]

A Patna-based company had launched "Lalu Khaini" (tobacco) in 2004, which was a hit. In 2005, Speedage Corp. introduced "Laluji" dolls that became popular with kids. In 2006, Lalu ka Khzana, a chocolate produced by New Delhi-based Chetak company, became very popular with kids in rural areas of north Bihar districts like Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi and Madhubani. The wrapper of the chocolate packet depicted two different caricatures of Lalu — one as a politician and the other as a magician. More than 100,000 packets were reportedly sold.[24]

A cheap cosmetic pack branded as Lalu Chale Sasural ("Lalu goes to in-laws house") had become extremely popular among rural Bihari girls, especially in the areas such as Vaishali, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga and Samastipur. Each packet, priced at Rs. 23 (rouglhy half a dollar), contains items of daily use like face powder, cream, earrings, sticker, and a necklace.[25]

In June 2006, Prakash Agro Industries in Bihar started selling cattle fodder under the brand name Lalu Pashu Aahar. It was reported that the outcome of this branding strategy had surpassed the company's expectations and they were facing problems in meeting the huge demand for their fodder[26]

Lalu has a sizable fan following in Bollywood, which includes actors Sunil Shetty and Raza Murad; and directors Mahesh Manjrekar and Mahesh Bhatt; to name a few. According to actor Shatrughan Sinha, who is also a political opponent of Lalu's, had he (Lalu) not been a politician he could have been an actor.[27]. Mahesh Bhatt has gone to the extent of saying that Lalu deserves to become Prime Minister[6].

Lalu appeared in a cameo role in the 2004 Bollywood movie, Padamshree Laloo Prasad Yadav. Though his name appeared in the title, the movie was not about him, but had characters named Padmashreee, Laloo, Prasad and Yadav. He also came in the movie Jab We Met, 2007 featuring Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapoor.

Lalu is a popular subject of jokes among comedians like Shekhar Suman, Johnny Lever and Paresh Rawal. Shekhar Suman, who was a little known actor until he started mimicking Lalu, is said to have carved a career out of it [7].

Yadav's party is alleged to have "continued in power for several years on the strength of the Muslim-Yadav combination"[28][29], and is considered extremely popular among members of both communities.[30] At the same time, his brand of politics has caused a great deal of resentment among other caste groups such as Bhumihar Brahmins, Rajputs, other Brahmin sub-castes and Kayasthas (who Lalu has collectively dubbed Bhurabal meaning brown hair). While Lalu has been criticised for aggravating caste divisions through his policies, his admirers claim that he helps disadvantaged groups out of a belief in secularism and social justice[citation needed].

Some MPs belonging to Lalu's party (RJD) have criminal charges against them.[31] The most notorious is the Siwan MP Mohammed Shahabuddin. Many of Lalu's own party members including Gopalganj MP Sadhu Yadav (brother of Lalu's brother-in-law Subhash Yadav) had asked him to sever ties with Shahbuddin.

Lalu has been charged with corruption cases, the most famous being the "Fodder scam". In the Fodder Scam, the funds meant for cattle fodder were diverted from the animal husbandry department. Lalu was one of the main accused in multi-million rupee scam.[32] After corruption charges compelled Lalu to step down as chief minister of Bihar in 1997, he made his wife Rabri Devi the chief minister.[33] From 1997 to 2001, Lalu was sent to jail five times.[34] Lalu was first[34] sent to "Judicial remand" (Bihar Military Police guest house, Patna) on July 30, 1997 for 134 days. On October 28, 1998, he was sent again to the same guest house for 73 days. When the Supreme Court of India took exception to his guest house stay, he was shifted to the Beur jail in Patna. He was later remanded for 11 days on April 5, 2000, in a disproportionate assets case. He surrendered along with his wife,[34] Rabri Devi, and was sent to the Beur Jail. Due to proceedings in the fodder scam, Lalu was remanded for a day in Beur jail on November 28, 2000.

On November 26, 2001, he was again remanded, in a case related to the Fodder scam. Lalu accused NDA of creating a conspiracy against him. On October 1, 2004 the Supreme Court of India served a notice to Lalu and Rabri Devi on fodder scam. This was in response to a petition, which alleged that they have been interfering with the investigation. .[35].

Laloo Prasad Yadav and his wife, Rabri Devi have been acquitted in disproportionate assets as per judgement delivered on 18th December 2006.[8]

On August 5, 2004, Yadav claimed that L.K.Advani, senior BJP leader and leader of the Opposition was an accused in a conspiracy to kill Mohammed Ali Jinnah and described him as an 'international absconder'. On September 14, 2004 Lalu asked L.K.Advani to come clean on ‘his involvement' in the alleged conspiracy to assassinate the founder of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah[36]

On September 28, 2004,Lalu alleged Mr. Venkaiah Naidu,the then Union Rural Minister, of having sold 55,000 tonnes of wheat in the name of drought relief distribution in AP. "A CBI probe will be initiated to find the truth" he said.[37]

Supporters of Lalu Yadav have claimed of Lalu being subject of institutional bias against him, which can be divided into: Media bias and other institutional biases.

Although he has maintained good relationship with media, at times he has accused media of being unfair, and even threatened to sue for defamation.[38] Media bias against him has been recognised by a section of press.[39] The media claims that it has been highlighting corruption cases against Lalu as a part of its duty.

Lalu and his supporters have also claimed some other institutions like the Election Commission of India of having bias against him on many occasions, the most recent being the last Bihar State Assembly Election,[40] whereas the Election Commission claims that it always has simply been doing its duty to prevent frauds and unethical behavior committed by Lalu and his supporters during Bihar state/general elections.

  • 1977: Elected to 6th Lok Sabha at the age of 29.
  • 1980-1989 Member, Legislative Assembly (two terms) of Bihar.
  • 1989: Becomes the leader of Opposition, Bihar Legislative Assembly, Chairman, Pustakalaya Committee, Convenor, Committee on Public Undertakings, Re-elected to 9th Lok Sabha (2nd term)
  • 1990-1995 Member, Bihar Legislative Council
  • 1990-1997 Chief Minister, Bihar
  • 1995-1998 Member, Bihar Legislative Assembly
  • 1996: Lalu's name springs up in a major scam
  • 1997: parts with the Janata Dal and forms Rashtriya Janata Dal.
  • 1998 Re-elected to 12th Lok Sabha (3rd term)
  • 1998-1999 Member, General Purposes Committee, Committee on Home Affairs and its Sub Committee on Swatantrata Sainik Samman Pension Scheme, Consultative Committee, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
  • 2004 Re-elected to the 13th Lok Sabha (4th term).Appointed as Cabinet Minister looking after the Ministry of Railways. In 2004, he was elected to the Lok Sabha with his party emerging as a key ally of the Congress.

Lalu has said many famous lines throughout his career. Here are some of them:

  • "India's new National Highways are as smooth as Hema Malini's cheeks."
  • "Who will invest in Bihar? If they invest in Bihar, they will be finished!" in response to Bihar's current CM Nitish Kumar initiative to attract businesses to Bihar.
  • "Even Bihari villagers like me can play better than the Indian team." [41] in response to questions about the Indian Cricket Teams pathetic performance in the 2007 Cricket World Cup.
  • "My mother always told me not to handle a buffalo by its tail, but always catch it by its horns. And I have used that lesson in everything in my life, including the Railways." [42]

  1. ^ While the Indian media was unsure as to the spelling of Mr. Yadav's name, in June 2004, he issued a clarification to the media to endure that his name was spelt as Lalu and not Laloo.It's Lalu not Laloo and it's official (June 24, 2004). Rediff.com. Retrieved on 2006-05-08.
  2. ^ His actual birthdate is unconfirmed. B’day bash only when communal forces are wiped out: Laloo. Daily Excelsior. Retrieved on 2006-05-08.
  3. ^ Amita Malik. Laloo in Wonderland. The Tribune. Retrieved on 2006-05-18.
  4. ^ a b Amberish K Diwanji. Laloo in a rascal, but I will vote for him. Rediff.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-25.
  5. ^ a b Siddharth Srivastava (September 29, 2004). India's man for all seasons. Asia Times. Retrieved on 2006-05-29.
  6. ^ A.J. Philip. A gentleman among politicians. The Tribune. Retrieved on 2006-09-05.
  7. ^ World Bank Report : Bihar - Towards a Development Strategy. World Bank. Retrieved on 2006-05-23.
  8. ^ More charges framed against Lalu Yadav. The Tribune. Retrieved on 2006-05-08.
  9. ^ Profile: Laloo Prasad Yadav. BBC News. Retrieved on 2006-05-08.
  10. ^ Laloo enters Limca Book of Records. The Tribune. Retrieved on 2006-08-24.
  11. ^ "Lalu's 'kulhad', a flop in Bihar", The Times of India, May 1, 2005. Retrieved on 2006-05-23. 
  12. ^ Lalu spares passengers; freight untouched. The Hindu. Retrieved on 2006-05-18.
  13. ^ Lalu refuses to be CEO, Railways India. The Times of India. Retrieved on 2006-05-18.
  14. ^ Laloo’s night out at Patna station. Deccan Herald (June 15, 2004). Retrieved on 2006-05-18.
  15. ^ Lalu to teach management at IIM-A. Rediff.com. Retrieved on 2006-09-07.
  16. ^ Indian Railways announces financial turnaround, new tracks. The News International, Pakistan. Retrieved on 2006-05-18.
  17. ^ Lalu Prasad Yadav's Budget Speech-2006-07. indianlaw.com. Retrieved on 2006-09-06.
  18. ^ [1]
  19. ^ [2]
  20. ^ "CEO Lalu set to enter IIM-A classroom", The Econmic Times. Retrieved on 2006-05-23. 
  21. ^ "IIM-A awaits Lalu's Rly turnaround story", The Business Line. Retrieved on 2006-09-07. 
  22. ^ Brand Lalu ruling Bihar markets. Zeenews.com. Retrieved on 2006-09-06.
  23. ^ The ‘LALU’ Brand in Rural Bihar. Business insights International. Retrieved on 2006-09-06.
  24. ^ Lalu choc-a-bloc. The Tribune, Chandigarh (June 18, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-09-24.
  25. ^ 'Brand Lalu' sells like hot cake. The Times of India (June 20, 2006). Retrieved on 2006-09-24.
  26. ^ The 'LALU' Brand in Rural Bihar. Retrieved on 2006-09-24.
  27. ^ Amarnath Tiwary. Laloo's Filmi Fans. Bihar Times (coutsey:Outlook). Retrieved on 2006-08-10.
  28. ^ Bihar on the edge. Frontline (October 20045). Retrieved on 2006-05-29.
  29. ^ The clash of the Yadavs. Rediff.com. Retrieved on 2006-09-06.
  30. ^ Lavish praise for Lalu. The Hindu (September 16, 2004). Retrieved on 2006-05-23.
  31. ^ Half of Laloo's G-8 at Centre are tainted. The Pioneer. Retrieved on 2006-05-29.
  32. ^ Lalu accused in six fodder scam cases. Outlook (April 25, 2005). Retrieved on 2006-05-29.
  33. ^ Hall of Shame. Hindustan Times. Retrieved on 2006-05-29.
  34. ^ a b c The ride to Ranchi. Frontline (December 2001). Retrieved on 2006-05-29.
  35. ^ Fodder scam: SC notices to Lalu, Rabri. Rediff.com (October 01, 2004). Retrieved on 2006-05-29.
  36. ^ "Laloo to Advani: Come clean on Jinnah murder", Press Trust of India, September 14, 2004. Retrieved on 2006-08-09. 
  37. ^ "Laloo seeks CBI probe against NDA", expressindia.com, September 28, 2004. Retrieved on 2006-08-09. 
  38. ^ Virendra Kapoor. Lalu ko gussa kyun ata hai. Rediff.com. Retrieved on 2006-09-28.
  39. ^ Chandrabhan Prasad. Is this the Empire's revenge?. The Pioneer. Retrieved on 2006-09-06.
  40. ^ Harish Khare. Election Commission must be a fair umpire. The Hindu. Retrieved on 2006-09-06.
  41. ^ [3]
  42. ^ [4]

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Preceded by
Jagannath Mishra		 Chief Minister of Bihar
1990—1997		 Succeeded by
Rabri Devi
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