BJP-JDU back to harping on Lalu’s Gabbar image & Jungle Raj but it’s unlikely to work in 2020

NDA says it is natural to remind people of the ‘dark days’ of the Lalu regime, but RJD says Nitish Kumar should, instead, focus on what he has done in the last 15 years.

RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav | PTI

Patna: During the run-up to the 2010 Bihar assembly elections, leaders of the BJP and JD(U) campaigned on the ‘dark days’ of Lalu Prasad Yadav’s regime.

Lalu had even said in one of his election speeches that time: “The NDA leaders are trying to scare the voters as if I am Gabbar Singh (the immortal villain in Sholay played by late Amjad Khan).” 

The ‘dark days rhetoric’ of the NDA paid political dividends as the coalition swept the polls that year, winning 206 of the 243 assembly seats.

Ten years later, the NDA is falling back on the same time-tested strategy and is reminding election-bound Bihar of the 15 years of ‘dark days’ under Lalu — its major poll plank is now ‘15 Saal banam 15 Saal (15 years of Lalu versus 15 years of Nitish).

JD(U) leaders said Chief Minister Nitish Kumar during video conferences with party workers since the last two months have been asking them to remind people of the ‘dark old days’ when Lalu was at the helm in Bihar from 1990 to 2005.

“RJD is our political opponent and it is natural for us to remind the people of their credibility while they are making tall claims about development if they come to power. We have roads, power, engineering colleges, new medical colleges and many things to show. For many, the image of non-existent roads, schools, hospitals and state-sponsored crime has faded. We are just reminding the people,” Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi told ThePrint.

He said that the NDA will also remind people about the Congress regime in their election campaign. 

“Tejashwi Yadav calls himself a Laluwadi. What was he apologising for to the people? What was he ashamed of? What his father and mother did during their rule? Tejashwi is just an extension of Lalu-Rabri regime and like Lalu he has been involved in corruption,” JD(U) minister Neeraj Kumar told ThePrint, stressing that his party will ask votes on development, particularly the 7-point agenda set by Nitish Kumar in 2015.

Kumar was referring to Tejashwi apologising for the mistakes committed during the 15-year of Lalu-Rabri rule last month.

“We have admitted that in those 15 years, though I was not in the government, if there was any mistake committed from our side, please forgive us. Only a person having a backbone can apologise for his mistake. The public has punished us by making us sit in the opposition for 15 years,” Tejashwi had said while addressing party workers during the 24th foundation day celebrations of the RJD on 5 July.

A section of NDA leaders, however, said that the ‘dark days’ rhetoric has been overplayed.

‘Reminding voters of Lalu’s days not enough to win polls’

BJP MLA Sanjay Paswan said reminding people of Lalu regime won’t pay political dividends this time.

“I do not think that reminding people of Lalu (regime) will pay political dividends this time. This election is about generation change. The people are looking for fresh faces,” he added.

JD(U) leaders privately echoed similar sentiments and said cautioning voters about Lalu’s 15-year rule isn’t enough to win elections this time. 

“At the ground level, there is a whole range of issues like unemployment due to continuous lockdowns and the situation arising out of the returning migrant workers. Floods happened even during Lalu regime but it never affected politics,” said a JD(U) minister, who didn’t want to be named.

JD(U) is ‘living in the past’ 

The RJD is obviously irked by the NDA’s focus on Lalu’s Gabbar Singh image.

“You (NDA) are living in the past. I’m living in the present and future,” Tejshaswi said during the one-day assembly session on 3 August while attacking the Nitish government on its handling of Covid-19 and floods. 

RJD MLA Samir Mahaseth told ThePrint that instead of talking about Lalu’s tenure, Nitish Kumar must talk about his own developmental work.

“There is a manufacturing date and expiry date for everything. While Lalu ji’s tenure expired in 2005, Nitish ji’s tenure will expire this year. He should talk about what he did for providing employment to the youths or preventing labourers from going out of the state,” he added.

“In 2010, people saw hope in Nitish. But after that he has done a flip-flop between BJP and Lalu ji. In fact, he won the 2015 elections with Lalu ji,” he said.

Nitish’s flip-flop

After parting ways with Lalu in 1994, Nitish had relentlessly campaigned against the poor governance of Lalu and Rabri Devi. But it took him a decade to find the right social and political combination to defeat Lalu in 2005.

But even when he was in power, Nitish used to call Lalu ‘bade bhai’ and Lalu used to call him ‘chote bhai’. 

In 2015 when he joined hands with Lalu again, the BJP reminded Nitish that he always referred to Lalu-Rabri regime as ‘Jungle Raj’. 

Nitish, however, retaliated, saying that he had never used the term ‘Jungle Raj’ and instead said ‘Rakshash Raj (rule of the devil).

“It was a doomed alliance right from the beginning. But by allying with Lalu, the credibility of his attack on Lalu has diminished,” said a JD(U) leader.

‘Nitish has very little to show in terms of governance’

Political experts said the NDA won’t be able to derive much political mileage by reminding Biharis about the ‘dark old days’ of Lalu regime.

“Nitish this time has very little to show in terms of his governance. His agricultural road map has collapsed and the farming community is in a poor shape. His arrogant handling of the Covid situation, rampant corruption and many other issues has come to the fore,” said professor D.N. Diwakar, who is the former director of A.N. Sinha Institute of Social Studies.

“On the other hand, there is Tejashwi Yadav, who is trying to woo the younger generation by cutting across caste lines and by promising to take with him all sections of the society. The younger generation consists of 35 per cent of the voters. In such a situation, the ruling parties have resorted to caste combinations and rhetoric,” he added. 

Satyajit Singh, president of a commerce and industrial organisation in Bihar, said: “Before the RJD, there was the Congress regime. Before that, there were the British who succeeded the Mughals. The point I am making is that one regime cannot be compared with the other. 15 years is a long time and I think people will be reviewing the work of Nitish Kumar for the whole 15 years.”