Former Bihar chief minister and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad celebrated his 74th birthday in New Delhi at her elder daughter Misa Bharti's residence on June 11. Adored by his acolytes and party workers, Lalu Prasad emerged as the most powerful voice of the weaker sections of the society in Bihar in the 1990s after he took over as the reins of power in the state. Lalu Prasad considers "social justice" and "secularism" as the two principal pillars of his political philosophy and takes pride in never compromising with these principles. However, his political detractors accuse him of indulging in "casteism" and "minority appeasement" for somehow sticking to power. Lalu Prasad has always talked about representing the oppressed sections of the society and a large chunk of that class rallied behind him during his heydays. However, his sheen was severely dented after he was accused of involvement in the fodder scam for which he was later convicted by the judiciary. Presently, he is out on bail after around 40 months of incarceration. A product of the JP movement of the 1970s, Lalu Prasad's journey from a mere clerk to the chief minister of Bihar and later as Union minister of India has been phenomenal. Here're 10 interesting points about his life and political journey:
1. Lalu was born to milkman Kundan Rai and Marichiya Devi on 11 June 1948 at Phulwariya village in Gopalganj district of Bihar. He completed his Bachelor of Laws and M.A. in Political Science from B. N. College of Patna University and then started working as a clerk at Bihar Veterinary College in Patna on a daily wage where his elder brother also worked as a peon. He stayed at the government quarter of his peon brother in Patna till he became the chief minister of Bihar in 1990. Lalu married Rabri Devi on 1 June 1973, in an arranged marriage, and they have two sons and seven daughters.
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2. Even though Lalu comes from a non-political family, he was pretty quick to learn the tricks of this field. He was elected as president of Patna University Students' Union (PUSU) in 1973 with Sushil Kumar Modi as the general secretary of the union. He joined Jayprakash Narayan -led the movement in 1974. In 1977, he won the parliamentary elections from Chapra constituency at the age of 29. He lost the Lok Sabha election from Chapra in 1980 but won the assembly election the same year from the Sonepur constituency. It is said that he had purchased a Vespa scooter after winning the parliamentary election in 1977 and bought a second-hand jeep after winning the assembly election in 1980.
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3. In 1985, Lalu once again won the assembly election from Sonepur and was elected as the Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly in 1989 after the demise of Karpoori Thakur who had also served as chief minister from Dec 1970-June 1971. In 1989, he was once again elected from Chapra Lok Sabha constituency on Janata Dal ticket when VP Singh became the prime minister.
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4. In 1990, the Janata Dal won the assembly elections in Bihar. Prime Minister VP Singh wanted Ram Sundar Das as the chief minister while Lalu Prasad was the choice of Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal. It is said that on Devi Lal's instructions, Chandrashekhar asked Raghunath Jha to join the CM race so that he could cut inro pro-Ram Sundar Das votes in the legislature party. The strategy worked and Lalu Prasad was elected as the chief minister of Bihar. He took the oath of office on 10 March 1990. Lalu never looked back from there.
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5. In October 1990, Lalu Prasad arrested Lal Krishna Advani in Samastipur of Bihar while he was on his way to Ayodhya from Somnath in Gujarat as part of his rath yatra in support of Ram temple construction at the disputed site. Advani's arrest led to the fall of the VP Singh government as the BJP withdrew support from the Singh govt. However, Advani's arrest made Lalu a hero in the eyes of the Muslims of the state. Until then, Lalu Prasad was primarily a leader of the Yadav community but Advani's arrest made the unchallenged leader of the Muslim community as well in the state. The M-Y (Muslim-Yadav) combination became the core of Lalu Yadav's electoral support base that helped him and his wife Rabri Devi rule the state from 1990-2005.
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6. Lalu won the second term as CM in 1995 again but had to step down in 1997 in the wake of CBI filing a charge sheet against him in the fodder scam. A defiant Lalu installed his wife Rabri Devi as the new CM of the state. This move came as a surprise to political observers as Lalu had always opposed dynastic politics. In 1997, Lalu formed his own party Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), breaking away from Janata Dal. In the 1998 Lok Sabha elections, he won from Madhepura but lost the 1999 elections to Sharad Yadav. In the 2000 Bihar Assembly elections, he won from both Danapur and Raghopur constituencies but vacated Raghopur for Rabri Devi. In 2000, RJD formed the government with Rabri Devi as the CM. Except for the brief President rule and 7 days term of Nitish Kumar, RJD remained in power in Bihar till 2005. In 2002, Lalu was elected to Rajya Sabha where he stayed till 2004.
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7. In 2004, Lalu Prasad went on to become the railway minister during the first UPA government led by Dr Manmohan Singh. As railway minister, he is credited with bringing a turnaround in the fortunes of the Indian Railways. Lalu's tenure as railway minister has been studied by IIMs, Harvard and Wharton. However, serious questions have been raised of late over the claims of the turnaround of Railways during his stint. In 2009, he again won the parliamentary election from the Saran constituency but was not inducted in the UPA-II govt headed by Dr Manmohan Singh.
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8. In 2013, following his conviction in the fodder scam case, he was barred from contesting elections for six years. In the 2015 Bihar Assembly elections, Lalu once again joined hands with Nitish Kumar who had walked out of NDA owing to his differences over Narendra Modi's PM candidature ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. RJD made a major comeback by winning the most number of seats among alliance partners of the 'mahagathbandhan'. Despite emerging as the single largest party, Lalu agreed to allow Nitish Kumar to lead the government with his younger son Tejashwi Yadav as the Deputy Chief Minister. His elder son Tej Pratap Yadav was also made a minister in the Nitish Kumar Cabinet.
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9. On July 5, 2017, a case was registered against him by CBI for an alleged "conspiracy" through which he allegedly acquired three acres of land in Patna worth Rs 32 crores for just Rs 54 lakhs. Lalu allegedly received the three acres of land - through a multi-layered process - in exchange for granting a private company rigged tenders to maintain two Railways hotels when he was railway minister.
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10. Lalu was sent to Birsa Munda jail in Ranchi on December 23, 2017, following his conviction in the Deogarh treasury case related to the fodder scam. On 29 April 2021, he was released from jail after getting bail from the special CBI court.
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