New Delhi: It was 2004. Exit polls predicted a hung Parliament and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav endorsed Congress president Sonia Gandhi as the Prime Ministerial face of the Opposition.
Cut to 2022, two years before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Lalu Prasad Yadav and JD(U) chief Nitish Kumar—then allies in Bihar—met Sonia and took the lead in forming a coalition of non-BJP parties. And the INDIA bloc was formed.
In December last year, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee proposed the name of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge as the front’s PM face—a proposal backed by AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal. Political circles were abuzz with speculation that Mamata did so at Lalu’s instance.
Former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav has stood with the Gandhi family through thick and thin, but the Congress’s poor showing in Maharashtra and Haryana seems to have forced RJD to look beyond its age-old ally. On Tuesday, Lalu joined the chorus of INDIA bloc leaders pitching for Mamata to take the reins of the alliance.
A growing concern among constituents is that the Congress’s inability to prove itself in direct contests with the BJP is harming not just its own interests but also of its allies.
It was against this backdrop that Lalu Prasad Yadav joined INDIA bloc constituents SP, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) in endorsing West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee as the face of the alliance.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Lalu said, “Congress’s objection [to Mamata taking over reins of INDIA bloc] means nothing. We will support Mamata. Mamata Banerjee should be given the leadership (of INDIA bloc).”
The remarks came two days after TMC made a pitch for leadership of the alliance. Cracks within INDIA bloc were visible during the ongoing Winter Session of Parliament where allies SP and TMC were not onboard with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s strategy to press on with the attack on BJP by highlighting a ‘link’ between PM Modi and Gautam Adani.
“Many parties don’t always want to rally behind Congress while denting their own electoral prospects since Congress sometimes gets entangled in one issue owing to Rahul Gandhi’s influence; other parties don’t see the merit in leaving the issue of farmers’ demands and Sambhal since the UP elections are only two years away,” said a Samajwadi Party leader.
Adding, “Dedicating an entire session [of Parliament] to Adani will have no electoral benefits. This is why many parties want a more spirited and focused strategy.”
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‘Congress weak link in Bihar’
The RJD-Congress alliance dates back to 1998. Both parties have at times contested Lok Sabha elections separately, like in 2009, but the alliance has largely stood the test of time despite the occasional differences.
For instance, when former RJD leader Pappu Yadav joined the Congress last March, RJD opposed his candidature from Purnia seat. He later entered the fray as an independent and defeated Bima Bharti—RJD’s much talked-about pre-poll acquisition from the JD(U).
And in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, RJD cut its ally to size by fielding a candidate against Congress’s Kanhaiya Kumar in Begusarai.
With less than a year to go for assembly elections in Bihar, Lalu’s endorsement of Mamata is being seen as a bid to pressure the Congress’s state leadership not to make unreasonable seat-sharing demands. RJD leaders ThePrint spoke to said they fell short of the majority-mark and Tejashwi Yadav lost his chance to become chief minister in 2020 because of the Congress, which they termed the ‘weak link’ of the alliance.
Of the 70 seats it contested in Bihar, the Congress won only 19. Its low strike rate was blamed for the alliance’s failure to touch the majority-mark.
Congress leaders, too, admitted. Tariq Anwar, who was then the party’s general secretary, had said in November 2020, “Our performance was not as good as RJD and Left … Had we performed like them, there would have been a Mahagathbandhan government in Bihar.”
As one RJD leader put it, “There is a growing feeling that Congress is emerging as a weak link, unable to give BJP a spirited fight. That is why alliance partners who have a support base in states are desperate to look beyond Congress party’s role of elder brother.”
A second RJD leader said, “RJD banks on Yadavs and Muslims who together make up 30 percent of Bihar’s population. It doesn’t want to cede space in Seemanchal, which is why it did not approve of Pappu Yadav’s candidature from Purnia on a Congress ticket.”
Adding, “We know Congress is the weak link in Bihar as it was not able to transfer ‘Upper Caste’ votes to RJD, as it did with JMM in Jharkhand. So RJD will be more careful in finalising a seat-sharing formula this time.”
On Monday, Congress’s Bihar co-incharge Shahnawaz Alam indicated to party workers that the party was no longer willing to play the role of ‘little brother’ in the alliance. “In politics, nobody is a big brother or a little brother. In the assembly polls, the number of seats each party would contest must be decided on the basis of several factors, including respective strike rates in the Lok Sabha elections,” Alam was quoted as saying.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the RJD contested 23 seats and won 4 with a vote share of 22 percent, while the Congress contested 9 of which it was able to win only 3 with a total vote share of 9 percent.
A Bihar Congress leader told ThePrint, “Lalu ji is a respected leader but his statement endorsing Mamata Banerjee is only posturing. Mamata has no stake in Bihar; her party has no presence outside of West Bengal. The Congress has a presence in every state.”
“So Lalu ji may have given the statement keeping in mind seat-sharing talks. It will have no bearing on national politics. We will cite our Lok Sabha performance during seat-sharing talks since our strike rate was better than the RJD’s,” the leader said.
Former Bihar Congress working president Shyam Sunder Singh Dhiraj asked, “Who is stopping TMC from leading [INDIA bloc]? If there is an issue, TMC should raise it. As for RJD, our alliance in Bihar has been fighting BJP for two decades now.”
RJD spokesperson Mrityunjay Tiwari responded by telling ThePrint, “Mamata Banerjee is one of the leaders of INDIA bloc. She expressed her desire to lead the alliance and Lalu ji supported her. When the alliance was formed, it was Lalu ji who invited Mamata didi to Patna. There is nothing wrong with it. Every alliance partner has a right to fight BJP.”
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As the old saying goes “When you realize that are in a pit, stop digging”.
These leaders – Lalu Yadav, Sharad Pawar, etc. – are totally out of touch with the current ground realities. They have absolutely no understanding of the aspirations of the modern Indian youth and the deep disenchantment with socialism. The Indian socialists have not been able to deliver on their promises despite getting massive mandates multiple times.
In their desperation they are turning to Mamata Banerjee. Ms. Banerjee has dragged Bengal down to such a level that the state has become something of a joke nowadays. Bengal is considered to be an example for abysmal administration, myopic govt policies and “povertarian” economics.
Mamata Banerjee will simply take the opposition deeper into the pit. It’s good for the BJP though.