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Soroor Ahmed in Patna
Rashtriya Janata Dal president Laloo Prasad Yadav opened two fronts simultaneously on Sunday: one against the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government at the Centre and the other against dissidents in his party led by working president Ranjan Yadav.
At a small -- by Laloo Prasad's standards -- yet impressive kisan (farmers) rally, Yadav called for the overthrow of the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre, which, he said, had mortgaged the country's interests to the World Bank.
He appealed to the masses to close ranks and bury the backward-forward divide to fight the forces of 'multinationalism'. "If this is not done today, we all will have to pay a heavy price tomorrow," he thundered, amidst wild cheering from the crowd.
Though Ranjan Yadav and half-a-dozen dissident members of Parliament and a couple of ministers were conspicuous by their absence at the rally, the turnout was impressive. Laloo Yadav conceded that he was worried through the night about the crowd, but was surprised to see such a disciplined mass at the venue.
The former chief minister had reason to be more than satisfied as the rally was organised only two days before Eid-uz-Zuha and four days before the start of the Holi festival. Besides, it is the marriage season in Bihar and the panchayat elections are also round the corner.
Yadav, in his inimitable style, said, "Yah to aadha Bihar hai (this is only half of Bihar)", implying thereby that the creation of Jharkhand had prevented a large number of his supporters from converging in Patna.
The RJD chief criticised the Budget presented by Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, saying it would make the goods used by the rich cheaper and those used by the poor dearer. "Does it make any sense to decrease the price of computers and mobile phones and make postcards and bidis costlier," he asked.
Though the dissidents succeeded in keeping away some MPs, they were in for a big surprise to see Building Construction Minister Mohammad Taslimuddin, a known critic of Laloo Yadav, and Rakesh Kumar, MLA and son of Health Minister Shakuni Chaudhary, on the dais.
Both spoke at the rally and vowed to fight unitedly against the Vajpayee government. Finance Minister Shanker Prasad Tekriwal was the only vocal critic of the rally to boycott it.
Though Tekriwal had not spoken out against Laloo Yadav, he had questioned the rationale for organising such a 'kisan rally' when the state government had not done anything for farmers in the last 11 years.
Rather than attacking the dissidents, Laloo Yadav chose to ridicule them and confessed that it was his mistake to make so many undeserving elements netas. "Now it is these very people who are groaning about me. Meri billi mere se miaow," he remarked to thunderous applause.
Though Chief Minister Rabri Devi's controversial brother, Aniruddh Prasad 'Sadhu' Yadav, was not present, there was a new face on the dais -- that of the computer engineer son-in-law of the ruling family, Shailendra.
Excise Minister Shivanand Tiwary, who is the party's national general secretary, struck an emotional chord on the occasion when he recalled how the income-tax department had served notices not only on Laloo Yadav but also on the father-in-law of his daughter Misa Bharati immediately after the marriage.
"Lalooji has seven daughters. By harassing the samdhi (daughter's in-laws) do the BJP people want to create fear among would-be in-laws not to give their sons in marriage to his family? What type of score do they want to settle," he asked.
Laloo Yadav might have won the first round, but the battle ahead is not going to be easy. Some of the dissidents have already planned to float a new party and bring down his wife's government within a fortnight. The NDA is likely to lend support to the move. The good news for Laloo Yadav, however, is that at the moment the dissidents do not have the desired number of legislators.
EARLIER REPORT: RJD dissidents want Rabri Devi out
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