Elections 2019 - Bihar Without Lalu

It is ultranationalism versus caste arithmetic as Bihar goes to the polls without Lalu Prasad for the first time in 40 years.

- Pratul Sharma

Taking a break from his hectic campaign schedule, Rashtri-ya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav rushed to Ranchi on April 7 to meet his father, Lalu Prasad. The Jharkhand Police, however, did not allow the son to meet the father, who is undergoing treatment at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences in the Jharkhand capital. The former Bihar chief minister is serving a prison sentence in the fodder scam case, and is allowed to receive visitors only once a week.

For the first time in 40 years, elections are taking place in Bihar without Lalu’s active participation. The BJP government in Jharkhand is trying to prevent Lalu from calling the shots from his hospital bed. His ward was searched several times in the recent weeks to locate a mobile phone which was allegedly used to pass on instructions to RJD leaders. There is elaborate security in the hospital, and access to Lalu’s room is tightly monitored.

Lalu’s absence is felt in Patna. The RJD had trouble negotiating the division of seats with allies like the Congress, who demanded a bigger share. Tejashwi’s elder brother Tej Pratap rebelled, threatening to field his own nominees from two seats—Sheohar and Jehanabad. He also threatened that he would take on his estranged father-in-law, Chandrika Rai, from Saran. Lalu, however, stepped in to ensure that Tej Pratap’s rebellion was nipped in the bud and that there was only one power centre in the family.