THE RETURN OF LALU

Jail, illness and the pandemic may have kept the septuagenarian RJD chief off the political stage, but he is back, energising his party’s cadre as well as the national Opposition alliance

- Amitabh Srivastava

“Didn’t learn to be afraid, didn’t learn to bow out. Have fought, will fight, won’t be afraid of jail, and will come out a winner in the end.” These were the words that accompanied the Instagram reel that Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav posted of his father, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) patriarch Lalu Prasad Yadav, playing badminton at the indoor court of the Patna Secretariat on July 28. Wearing a loose-fitting polo shirt, sweatpants and slippers, the 75-year-old politician looked pleased as he first served, then followed it up with a delicate return, in the video.

The message was unambiguous. That Lalu, who just about eight months ago went through a kidney transplant, is in fine fettle and ready to take on any challenge. Only a few days back, at the party’s Foundation Day event in Patna on July 5, he had thrown one such challenge at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Ukhad ke phenk denge, Narendra Modi ko (we will uproot Narendra Modi),” the Bihar strongman had declared, before switching to chaste Bhojpuri—“ jahiya tu na rahi to te tohar ka hoi (what will happen once you lose power)?”—triggering loud cheers from the RJD workers. It was Lalu’s way of letting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Union government know that he is undeterred by the fresh land-for-job scam chargesheet that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed against him, his wife Rabri Devi and son Tejashwi, his chosen heir.