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Lalu: Good enough for jokes
He lost
because Nitish Kumar proved that lawlessness, bad governance do not
have to be a norm
Mansukh Kaur
 PATNA:
It is difficult for the younger generation of Diaspora children to
understand what Bihar means in Indian political parlance. Most
Indians used the term hardly in a geographical sense but rather in a
cultural one, or a decultured one. How many may have asked a boy
teasing a girl not to act like a Bihari? Political incorrectness of
such deeply-entrenched prejudices besides, the fact remains that
Nitish Kumar's government did a lot to change this image of
Bihar by delivering good governance.
But that has also
ensured that the Lalu supremacy era in
Bihar comes to an end. Sikhs have a special interest in the state
as a lot of migrant labour for
Punjab farms comes from
Bihar and developments in
Bihar hold an
interest for Punjab agriculturists as well as petty manufacturing
sector.
Lalu Prasad Yadav's
Rashtriya janta Dal (RLD), with a keosene lamp as its election
symbol, is often credited with leading Bihar to a mess that it was
in when Nitish Kumar took over. This time, after all of Lalu's
bluster and his decision to not have a truck with the Congress, the
RLD won a measly three Lok Sabha seats. Lalu himself won the Saran
seat, losing the other, Pataliputra, that he also contested.
For over 15 years,
Prasad, 61, lorded over Bihar, winning election after election
despite appalling mismanagement, sharp deterioration in law and
order and the utter lack of development. At one stage, he even went
to jail in a fodder scam but hardly suffered a loss of popularity.
He is a favourite of Indian stand up comics who crack Lalu jokes on
prime time television regularly.
Nitish Kumar of
Janata Dal (United), who came from a Lohiate branch of politics but
ended up having a truck with the communal BJP, has proved that
maladministration and criminalised politics need not be the norm.
Nitish has consistently been uncomfortable in the company of saffron
BJP, makes his displeasure known from time to time, but needs the
BJP to stay in power.
Lalu's efforts at
emerging as a good and efficient administrator by turning around the
Railways during his last five years at the Centre did not impress
Biharis but perhaps had he had a truck with the Congress, we may not
have known the dip in his popularity. Will defeat chastise him?
20
May 2009
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