New Delhi: It has been two decades since his party’s absolute reign ended in Bihar but Lalu Prasad Yadav’s 15 years of so-called “jungle raj” continues to interest authors, political commentators, and journalists, who are still writing books on the former chief minister and his rule. And with Nitish Kumar’s latest flip in the election year, the lens on Lalu has got even closer.
Through the years, Lalu has appeared on the covers of several books — from Sankarshan Thakur’s Subaltern Saheb and The Brothers Bihari, to Neena Jha’s Lalu Prasad: India’s Miracle. While some have called him the messiah of social justice politics, others hold him responsible for the “jungle raj”.
Mrityunjay Sharma’s Broken Promises: Caste, Crime and Politics in Bihar is the latest addition in the long list of books on Lalu and Bihar’s politics. And like his previous works, Broken Promises toes the same “jungle raj” narrative.
“1990-2005 was a long and tragic period in the recent history of Bihar. Ironically, tragedies often make for the most compelling stories,” writes Sharma in his book that was launched at New Delhi’s Constitution Club in the presence of Pavan Varma, former diplomat and ex-advisor to Nitish Kumar, and columnist-author Advaita Kala. The gathering seemed like a coterie. Most members of the audience were either Sharma’s friends from BIT Mesra or family members and young journalists.
The publisher Westland Books chose neither Lalu nor Nitish for the cover image of the book. Rather, it depicts a group of lungi-wearing people holding guns on their shoulders, their heads tied with gamcha, representing a caste army, some sort of savarna militias formed during the Lalu era. “These private caste armies like Ranvir Sena are wiping out entire villages, kidnapping becomes an organised industry, which is unthinkable in any part of the country,” said Sharma.
During the 50-minute conversation moderated by Kala, panellist Varma talked about his experiences and encounters with Bihar politicians, contrasting between the state’s past and present.
Author Sharma, who is currently the chief election manager for the BJP in Jharkhand, described Bihar under Lalu as a “failed state” with a floundering economy, widespread corruption, lawlessness, bloody wars between private caste armies, and an apathetic political leadership.
Being a Bihari in Delhi
The rather dull talk, which started 50 minutes later from the scheduled time, didn’t bring any new fact or analysis about the 15 years of Lalu era. Sharma simply put his own version on how he sees that era. It seemed to be a compilation of analysis and opinions captured in many books on Lalu and his politics.
Sharma went down the memory lane to describe what being a Bihari outside the state meant in those years. Sharma recalled how a student in an IIT prep class in 2004 was reluctant to disclose which state he belonged to. “He was twisting and turning before he said, ‘Main Bihar se hun (I am from Bihar)’,” Sharma said.
According to him, there was more to make sense of what the state had gone through and what he had witnessed. And hence the book. Over the decades, Bihar turned into a place plagued by caste atrocities, crime syndicates, deficient infrastructure, and a series of corrupt and short-sighted governments. Varma called his book a magnum opus, which chronicles Bihar’s betrayal.
The word Bihari is used more as a pejorative term by outsiders and the negative tone could either be used to suggest someone is a “fool” or “rustic”. “Bihari is not just a regional entity. It’s a slur synonymous with remarks on all kinds of inadequacies one can conceive of,” said Meenakshi Thakur, editor, Westland Books.
An audience member asked Sharma about the process of choosing the cover image and why readers from outside Bihar should read this book. “We did not want a Nitish-Lalu picture because it’s not about that person. We wanted to depict Bihar in its totality in terms of what it went through in the 1990s. I think this period represents something, which is so unprecedented that everybody should understand Bihar beyond the superficial depiction that comes through movies and normal conversations. It helps to understand how bad the condition was in the broken state,” he said.
Lalu Yadav vs Nitish Kumar
But the Bihar buck didn’t stop at Lalu. Next was Nitish. According to Varma, Bihar is like a barren landscape where morality, idealism, and ideology have all become victims of the worst and coarsest form of transactional politics. “It continues. And I have personally been a witness to the decline of the one hope that Bihar seemed to have, which was Nitish Kumar,” he said.
Varma pointed out that after 30 years of Nitish and Lalu’s rule, Bihar is exactly where it was 70 years ago. “Agar kutta kat le to 14 sui lagva lo, theek ho jaoge; kursi kaat le to koi ilaaj nahi (If a dog bites you, 14 injections will cure you; if a chair—power—bites you, there is no treatment),” he said jokingly, adding that this is precisely what has happened in the case of Nitish Kumar, where a man known for his ideological, political rectitude has switched sides brazenly.
In the last 10 years, Nitish allied with his political rival Lalu Yadav twice and then switched back to the BJP-led NDA, his old ally. In January, Nitish came out from the JDU-RJD government. “If he is a palturam, every political party which has accepted him again and again is the palturam party,” said Varma, which made everyone laugh, including the author, who works for the BJP.
Despite both Lalu and Nitish being held responsible for Bihar’s condition, Varma recalled a major difference between the two leaders.
Varma said that every time he visited Lalu’s residence, he saw a stark contrast with Nitish. “Nitish is a more private person. He likes his circle of coterie, mostly political leaders. But Lalu’s whole place is milling with workers. He is actually a people’s man and genuinely represented the aspiration of those oppressed under the curse of the caste system for greater empowerment.”
In remarks that sounded more than a simple academic suggestion and pointed at the BJP’s culpability too, Varma said, “I think volume two by Sharma should be written on the fall of Nitish Kumar. From where he was and what he has become today. And of which his (Sharma’s) party (BJP) is now an honourable alliance partner.”
(Edited by Prashant)