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Lalu Yadav The last laugh is on him The long arm of the law has finally caught up with Lalu. With his political career facing a dead-end, the entertainer in him would be anything but amused. By Nirmal Sandhu
Son of a milkman of Phulwaria in Gopalganj district of Bihar, Lalu entered politics as a student leader and embraced the socialist ideas of JP, George Fernandes and Karpoori Thakur. He shot into national fame in 1990 when the then Prime Minister VP Singh picked him up for the post of Bihar Chief Minister, sidelining many others.
The rise Post-Mandal protests, Lalu Prasad consolidated his political base. Muslims rallied around him after he stopped LK Advani’s rath yatra at Samastipur in 1990. The combination of Yadavs and Muslims strengthened his position and enabled him to continue as the undisputed Bihar ruler for seven years. His biggest contribution: secularism and making the extremely backward and poor people politically conscious. He spoke to them in their own language and regaled them with jokes, taking potshots at people symbolising power. Citing his own example, he inspired them to dream big. Lalu continued as the Chief Minister for seven years till 1997 and then ruled by proxy till 2005 after handing over the post to his wife, Rabri Devi. A cartoonist’s delight, Lalu’s look, ‘lungi’ and language were carefully thought out initially for the intended effect. Over the years these have become part of his personality. He is no village bumpkin. It is not that he did not know the names of all his seven daughters and two sons, when asked. He plays an entertainer in the political circus. He is a Bachelor in Laws and holds a master’s degree in political science. If rustic charm was his strength, greed was the tragic flaw in his character that caused his downfall and turned his largely comfortable, comic life into a tragedy. He is a calculating politician who has pursued and used power for personal and political advantage.
The fall For years before he became the Chief Minister, ministers and IAS officers, among others, had been withdrawing large sums of money from state treasuries for buying fodder, medicines and artificial insemination equipment for non-existent herds of cattle. Instead of stopping the loot, Lalu joined them. In total they misappropriated Rs 950 crore. Of the 600 accused, 550 have been convicted. Lalu has been sentenced in one case along with 44 others, including an MP, a former minister of Bihar and three IAS officers. Five more cases are pending against him involving a sum of Rs 200 crore.
Bihar pays As a Chief Minister, Lalu was a disaster. He ruled Bihar for 15 years and pushed the state to the lowest level in economic and social rankings in the country. He believed cars were not required as Bihar had no roads. He told villagers to use kerosene since electricity was unavailable. Lawlessness prevailed and kidnappings for ransom became a cottage industry, inspiring a Hindi film. Coming from a similar humble background and facing the same challenges, his one-time friend, Nitish, has rescued the sinking Bihar, ended the “goonda raj” and put the state on the growth track. It shows how one non-performer at the top can spread so much ruin.
Not funny As Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad took the entire country for a ride. He made everyone believe that the Railways had stopped making losses and become profitable. The turnaround surprised even global management schools. Harvard and Wharton invited him for lectures. A CAG report later revealed that the Railway “success” story was due to the new practice of issuing a "statement of cash and investible surplus". When accidents happened and Lalu was cornered, he said: “Indian Railways is the responsibility of Lord Vishwakarma. So is the safety of passengers.”
While going to the Ranchi CBI court to hear the verdict, Lalu Prasad carried in a briefcase the pictures of Durga, Hanuman and Krishna, forgetting that prayers without good deeds won’t help. Five years in jail and a six-year bar thereafter on contesting elections mean the 65-year-old RJD boss may possibly remain off the political centre stage for 11 long years. His wife and son will have to try hard to retain the supporters and the vote bank. There is hope, still. The superior court can stay the conviction and the sentence. In 2007, the Supreme Court stayed the conviction and sentence of Navjot Sidhu in a road rage death case and allowed him to contest the Amritsar Lok Sabha byelection. Such relief, according to the apex court, “is not the rule but an exception resorted to in rare cases depending on the facts of the case”. The fodder case, which dragged on for 17 years due to Lalu’s crafty coalition politics and dilatory tactics, did not weigh on his mind until Rahul Gandhi’s dramatic ordinance reversal upset the applecart. Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh liked him. Kapil Sibal, who as the Law Minister framed the ordinance and defended it publicly, had argued Lalu’s case in the Patna High Court in the late 1990s. The Rahul camp, however, seems to have other priorities. Why have Lalu the loser when Nitish the winner is ready to be seduced? After Rasheed Masood, Lalu is the second politician to lose his parliamentary seat, post the Supreme Court verdict on convicted legislators.
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profile Ramanathan, who hails from Madurai, received his bachelor’s degree in engineering from Annamalai University in 1965 and his master’s degree from Indian Institute of Science. He did his PhD from State University of New York on Planetary Atmosphere. At 11, he moved from Madurai to Bangalore where classes were not taught in Tamil. “I did not understand what they were saying because it was in English,” he says. His grades suffered but it had a positive impact. “I lost the habit of listening to my teachers and had to figure out things on my own. I lost the fear of the unknown,” he says. Ramanathan is now a distinguished professor of atmospheric and climatic sciences at Scripps Institution of Oceanographic, University of California, San Diego. He chairs an international science team from Asia, Africa and Latin America under the Atmospheric Brown Clouds programme sponsored by the UNEP. His focus is on developing practical solutions for mitigating climate change and slowing the retreat of the Himalayan glaciers. Project Surya, which attempts to eliminate climate warming pollutants from traditional bio-mass cooking, is his first climate mitigation project. Launched in 2009, the project uses solar cookers and documents reductions in carbon dioxide. Each household in Khairatpur village, UP, received a biomass stove and a solar lamp. Research showed cutting emissions of soot can lesson the impacts of climate change, improve the health of millions and avoid crop losses. A UNEP study in 2011, in which Ramanathan was the vice-chair and senior contributor, presented 16 actions to cut black carbon and methane emissions, which if implemented would save 2.5 million lives every year. Ramanathan is also interested in the impact of climate change on agriculture in India. A statistical rice model coupled to a regional climate model has shown that reductions of carbon dioxide and atmospheric brown clouds will increase yield. In 1999, he led a team of researchers that discovered a large body of pollution. Using planes, ships, and satellites, his team of 200 scientists tracked a brown blanket of soot and smoke that was nearly 2 miles thick. It hung over an area of the Indian Ocean, the size of the US. It suggested man-made soot may be a critical factor in causing climate change.
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IN a world where rights of humans often come under violation, what to talk of animals, some members of the Bishnoi community in Fatehabad are fighting for animals and environment. Working under the aegis of Akhil Bhartiya Jeev Raksha Bishnoi Sabha, these animal rights and environment activists have been trying to save lives of the few blackbucks left in the area. Since the Bishnois are considered to be protectors of trees and wildlife, blackbucks, which have become extinct in most parts of Haryana, can be spotted in Bishnoi-dominated villages of Fatehabad, Hisar and Sirsa. “Protecting wildlife and trees are among the 29 tenets of Guru Jambeshwar, our spiritual inspiration. ‘Bishnoi’ is derived from ‘bis’ (20) and ‘noi’ (nine). He gave us the message to protect trees and wildlife 540 years ago when nobody could fathom that harming environment means harming yourself,” says Rameshwar Delu, national president of the sabha. “Ten tenets are directed towards personal hygiene and maintaining good health, seven for healthy social behaviour, and five tenets to worship God. Eight tenets have been prescribed to preserve biodiversity and encourage good animal husbandry. These include a ban on killing animals and felling green trees, and providing protection to all life forms,” says sabha general secretary Krishan Kumar Kakar. Delu and Kakar retired from government jobs. Delu was in the state information and public relations department while Kakar was secretary, market committee. Now, they have devoted their lives to protecting animals.
Back in time In 1730, as many as 363 Bishnoi men, women and children died while protecting the felling of trees by a king’s men. The incident took place in Khejarli village of Jodhpur district. It was the first ‘chipko’ movement, says Kakar. This is the reason why blackbucks, neelgai, rabbits and other animals, which are becoming extinct in neighbouring villages where residents poach them for meat, find a haven in Bishnoi villages. Bishnois also take care of injured animals by rushing them to veterinarians and providing safeguards in their natural habitat.
Fight to finish A similar situation arose recently when Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) started erecting a fence on the 185-odd acres of land acquired by it at Badopal in Fatehabad for a residential colony for its employees in July. Seven blackbucks died in the first five days of the start of the exercise. The corporation had included a big part of the natural habitat of the blackbucks for the colony. The animals got trapped in the metallic mesh of the fence and died. The sabha lodged a complaint with the police, but no FIR was registered against NPCIL. The activists sat on a dharna for 88 days. Animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi and Adampur MLA Renuka Bishnoi went to the village on October 2 and persuaded them to end their protest. The sabha dragged NPCIL to the National Green Tribunal, where NPCIL said it would not put up any fence till its application was cleared by Ministry of Environment and Forests. The sabha also pleaded its case before the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, whose officials visited the site on the directions of the ministry. The institute recommended that the land should be converted into a conservation reserve for blackbucks. Vinod Kumar Karwasara, a member of the sabha and district president of Maneka Gandhi’s People for Animals, says they have been able to save animals from poachers, but several blackbucks and other animals have been dying due to the lackadaisical attitude of the authorities. “Information obtained from the wildlife department under the RTI has revealed that 206 blackbucks, categorised as Schedule-1 animals, have been killed in Fatehabad and Hisar districts from January 1, 2012, to July 20, 2013. If we include all animals under Schedule-1 to Schedule-5, the toll is 413,” he says. The wildlife department mentions dog bites as the cause of death in most cases. A drive to sterilise stray dogs on the intervention of Maneka Gandhi has failed to yield any result. During her visit to Badopal on October 2, she lamented her team of veterinarians did not get support from the local authorities. The sabha says though the task before them is onerous and they do not get support from any quarters, it would not give up.
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narendra modi, bjp’s prime ministerial candidate dr manmohan singh, prime minister anoushka shankar, sitar player rahul dravid, cricketer abhishek bachchan, actor
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Lalu
AN atmospheric scientist of Indian origin, Veerabhadran Ramanathan was recently nominated for Champion of the Earth Award, UN’s highest award (UN Environment Programme-UNEP) announced last week.
You have made the son of a poor family sit here today. This is the BJP’s culture. I was never a ruler at heart. I never dream of becoming a ruler. I am a servant, not a master. I will serve you.
I hope that the generous and tolerant people of India would forgive the government some wrongs we may have committed. We have improved the economy and are keeping the borders safe.
It went on for a few years, and then, thank God, it ended. But you look at the news and it’s like ‘Five-yr-old raped’, ‘Two-yr-old raped’. I can’t read papers in India without being traumatised.
It’s important that you play within rules and in spirit of the game. Selections should be a consequence of what you are doing but not the goal. Winning and succeeding is not vital if you play foul.
I am used to people whistling at my wife. I have never whistled at her to woo her. I don’t think it is the right thing to do. I courted her through my gestures, emotions and words.