India's man for all
seasons By Siddharth Srivastava
NEW DELHI - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
was in the US recently doing the rounds of the United
Nations General Assembly, meeting with President George
W Bush and handling the high-profile one-to-one exchange
with Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf.
Foreign visits of Indian dignitaries are not
popularity contests, but it is no surprise to most here
that the Indian leader most sought after internationally
to make a high-profile visit does not relate to foreign
affairs or business. It does not happen to be Manmohan,
not even Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, former
prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, President Abdul
Kalam Azad, Foreign Minister Natwar Singh, or even
India's most popular actor Amitabh Bachchan, biggest
cricketer Sachin Tendulkar or most beautiful diva
Aishwaria Rai.
The person most in demand is Lalu
(the word literally translates as "fool") Prasad Yadav,
the railway minister, technically reporting to Manmohan
but owing his allegiance to "friend" Sonia Gandhi and
the electorate of poverty-stricken lower-caste and
Muslim supporters in the state of Bihar, which he has
ruled for more than 14 years. For the past seven years,
though, he has ruled by proxy through his wife Rabri
(named after a popular sweet dish of northern India)
Devi, who is chief minister of Bihar.
The Indian
government has been inundated with requests from
embassies and high commissions asking for Lalu's
bio-data, as well as the possibility of a visit, ever
since he became a minister in the central government
this year. An official is quoted as saying, "More than
100 missions have sought his curriculum vitae and
asked questions about him. They say he is worth
studying. Such interest is unheard of for any other
minister." Incidentally, Lalu Prasad is the subject of a
study by sociologists at Harvard University in the
United States.
The man himself is quite unfazed
by such international attention. Speaking to Asia Times
Online, Lalu said, "People all over the world want to
know how the son of a cowherd has risen to such heights.
Their interest in me is a victory of Indian democracy."
Since taking over as minister, Lalu has made one
international visit to neighbor Pakistan as part of a
delegation of other political leaders, who returned
rather unhappy as all the attention was focused on Lalu,
including a much-displayed hug by Musharraf, who counts
on such gestures, including the more famous handshake
with Vajpayee, to make peace with India.
"Musharraf is a good man and wants to improve
relations with India," said Lalu. "I fully support the
peace process."
Indeed, it is a paradox of
Indian politics that Lalu has continued to hold sway
over Bihar for as long as he has given that the state
continues to languish in lawlessness, poverty and an
absolute feudal culture. Other chief ministers, such as
Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh) and S M Krishna
(Karnataka) known for their fine development record,
have been voted out of power by those who perceive
themselves to be left out of the fruits of economic
progress.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under
former premier Vajpayee tried its best to dislodge Lalu,
but failed as his party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal,
continues to win elections, whether for seats to
parliament or to the local assembly, riding on the
powerful lower-caste and Muslim votes. Indeed, the BJP
is out, but Lalu has endured and has taken on the mantle
of union cabinet minister.
Even his detractors
within the current dispensation are unable to shake the
immense faith that Sonia Gandhi, the real power behind
the scenes, has reposed on him because of his unstinted
loyalty when she was out of the power reckoning. Lalu
has the tendency to club his wife Rabri and Sonia
together as two ladies who know more about Indian
politics than anybody else because of their proximity
with their husbands (Sonia is the widow of the late
Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi).
"It is
because of me that today the union government has
sanctioned special funds for the development of Bihar. I
have survived in Indian politics for so long as the
people of Bihar do not want the communal politics
pursued by the BJP. People may say that there is
lawlessness in Bihar, but there have never been any
communal riots in the state, when I or Rabriji [Rabri
Devi] were chief minister, as the administration is very
strong," said Lalu.
Indeed, in an age of reality
bytes and mass television, Lalu is known for his earthy
humor and quick repartee, but there are several others
like him who have not managed to survive the hurly-burly
of Indian politics. If Lalu still rules it is because he
has managed to turn every political adversity into an
opportunity, with an astute understanding of how the
minds of his constituency, in essence the poor and
backward, in Bihar tick. This may sound simplistic, but
Lalu is a master at it.
He is the father of nine
children, but when queried about family planning, says
that his large family is a protest against the emergency
that was imposed in the country in the late 1970s when
Indira Gandhi (India's former prime minister) forced
sterilization to control the country's population. His
eldest daughter is named Misa, after a draconian law
that provided the police a free rein in the late 1970s.
Faced with a corruption scandal in 1997 when he
was the chief minister of Bihar, he appointed his wife
Rabri Devi, who had spent most of her time in the
kitchen and doing household work, as chief minister.
When queried about issues relating to competence, he
said Rabri had managed a house and nine children with
considerable skill, and questioning her political
competence would be an insult to every housewife in the
country. It is common knowledge, though, that it is
Lalu's writ that runs large, which obviously Rabri does
not mind. Rabri recently said she is still happiest when
she is cooking for her family.
This year Bihar
was ravaged by floods, because of which thousands were
left homeless and hundreds died. Lalu declared that the
floods were a boon by the gods as expensive fish that
was available only for the rich to eat were now able to
swim freely to be caught and eaten by the poor.
Stung by being left behind in the
information-technology boom that is sweeping most of
India, Lalu said that computers were anti-poor, although
his eldest son-in-law worked for India's software giant
Infosys.
The anecdotes go on, and Lalu said, "I
know some people say I can be funny. But there is always
a deeper meaning to what I say. I am a socialist at
heart and have the interests of the poor in mind. When
people see how I manage to work my way out of tough
situations, it gives them hope in their own life."
Indeed, when Harvard University studies Lalu it
will be apparent that the existence of such politicians
is to do with the nature of Indian polity, where often
ideology rather than governance works; symbolism and not
development can be the key to political survival;
visions of hope rather than substance cut ice; caste and
religion rather than performance are the criteria of an
electoral base.
It has been such in the past -
Indira Gandhi commanded a larger-than-life pro-poor
image that nobody could puncture; the BJP rode to power
on the strength of the destruction of the Babri Mosque,
which became the symbol of past atrocities when Muslims
ruled the country, and is currently at its wit's end to
find another such passionate subject to coalesce the
Hindu vote base.
Lalu is the living symbol of a
political leader who represents the poor who live with
no hope of making it among the richer, more affluent
sections of Indian society who have benefited from
economic reforms. Poking fun at the classes always goes
down well with the masses. It is said that Lalu has
survived because there is all-around squalor in Bihar,
unlike in Karnataka or Andhra Pradesh, where pockets of
growth have been a cause for envy. This is the paradox
of Indian politics.
Meanwhile, Railway Minister
Lalu is doing what he does best. He has ordered earthen
cups to be used while serving tea on trains; curd
preparations are mandatory in meals; he has announced a
massive employment drive, though most reports point to
overstaffing of India's cash-strapped rail systems with
a poor safety record; he wants to remove a ban on the
rail transport of cows to keep his Muslim constituency
happy; he is studying papers related to the Gujarat
communal riots to get at the BJP. In short, Lalu is
again playing to the galleries. There is merit in some
of his schemes as they benefit small-scale industry, as
well as the poor. But in his quest to please and his
populism, he has probably become a bit carried away.
Such is the nature of Indian politics, which definitely
merits further study for all to know more.
"It
is not right that I am looking at the railways to
benefit only a particular constituency. Today in India
there are all sections of people, as the BJP realized
when the poor voted them out. While looking at the needs
of the poor, I cannot ignore that a large portion of
travelers are affluent and want quality service. I am
perhaps the only railway minister who has not increased
fares of air-conditioned travel in the budget. I am here
to look after the needs of every Indian," said Lalu.
In the meantime, countries that have expressed
an interest in finding out more about Lalu Prasad
include Iran, Saudi Arabia, Algeria and Libya. Requests
for his bio-data usually come with questions about how
Lalu has managed to dominate Bihar's political scenario
for nearly two decades. It's an enigma as well as an
irony.
Lalu's parting answer to a final query:
"I do not rule out the possibility of being prime
minister of India one day, but there is still time."
Siddharth Srivastava is a New
Delhi-based journalist.
(Copyright 2004 Asia
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India's man for all
seasons
