Tejashwi Yadav is so afraid of the Lalu Yadav-Rabri Devi legacy that his party — the Rashtriya Janata Dal — is shying away from using their photos in the campaign posters in the upcoming Bihar assembly election. Like the proverbial ‘Gabbar aa jayega’ dialogue from Sholay that captured the fear for the dreaded dacoit, ‘Lalu aa jayega’ is a thought that haunts most Biharis.
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Bihar won’t choose Tejashwi
Kidnaping, murder, anarchy, corruption, mis-governance and zero growth were the hallmarks of the Lalu, Rabri-led governments between 1990 and 2005 — husband and wife took turns as chief ministers to ‘loot’ state resources for which the Rashtriya Janata Dal supremo is in jail while Rabri and Tejashwi face criminal cases.
Yet, a section of media and social media commentators are attempting to project that Tejashwi is a possible alternative for Bihar voters. This false narrative that the RJD is somewhat a hope for the state’s youth is an attempt by the 10 Janpath ecosystem to gain some traction in the Bihar assembly polls. The RJD-Congress-Left alliance is not even an option for the youth of Bihar. Tejashwi Yadav is a dynast of a corrupt party known for crime and violence, and a Bihari youth who aspires to be an IAS officer knows well that an RJD government in the state would mean education will take a back seat and the ‘kidnapping industry’ will start to flourish again.
‘Palayan’ or the exodus of educated Biharis to the big cities of Delhi and Mumbai was worn as a badge of honour by the RJD government. No new industries were set up, existing factories had to shut, entrepreneurship became an alien concept and small businesses were forced to pay ransom to exist. Only Yadav musclemen flourished while contractors in nexus with the RJD politicians and bureaucrats looted Bihar — the likes of Sadhu Yadav who were related to Lalu Yadav and Rabri Devi played the feudal lord and kept the poor people of Bihar in subjugation. The poor in Bihar kept getting poorer. Bihar, to date, has the lowest per capita income in India, a legacy of the RJD rule.
Lalu only did theatrics to stay in news, which his son Tejashwi is copying now — the promise of 10 lakh jobs is plain theatrics. One should ask those who lost their businesses (many of them were kidnaped too) during the Lalu-Rabri Raj—do the RJD and the Yadav family understand the relationship between businesses and jobs? The answer will be no. All through their tenure, Lalu and Rabri believed in keeping people poor and killing businesses.
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Why Bihar needs NDA
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a world-renowned leader with a proven track record of good governance, and Bihar has been a strong supporter of his development politics. Bihar’s youth want stability, opportunity, respect, growth and peace that only the NDA— under the leadership of PM Modi and CM Nitish Kumar — can provide. The BJP-JD(U) government has always worked towards curbing crime and ensuring development. The Janata Dal United (United), too, like the BJP, believes in the politics of empowerment, and Nitish Kumar as Bihar’s CM has worked on the vision of ‘Sabka saath, sabka vikaas’.
The NDA rule in Bihar has given Biharis respect and hope of a just society based on law and accountability of government officials. Throughout the NDA rule since 2005, Bihar has seen that social welfare programmes can uplift society, and economic growth is more sustainable when the law and order situation is under control. Lalu Yadav had made the word ‘Bihari’ synonymous with crime and disharmony. The NDA rule in Bihar has given the state a thrust towards a glorious future and reminded Biharis of their great legacy — revival of the Nalanda University is one such example.
The NDA is the only credible alliance that can deliver governance in Bihar.
Abhishek Mishra @abhimishrabjp is a BJP youth leader. Views are personal.