evening of July 24, 1997... In the matter of the fodder scandal, the Patna High Court denied Lalu Yadav's request for anticipatory release. Even if Lalu's attitude was fiery and there were calls to step down from the CM position, the arrest was now all but certain.
"Our Constitution does not allow dismissing a CM by falsely accusing him of something," he stated. We have no intention of leaving our position as Chief Minister.
Beginning with the morning of July 25, Lalu's disposition began to soften. Governor AR Kidwai really contacted me at about eight in the morning, stating that arrests may very well occur by the afternoon. Lalu will have to suggest the president's rule if he doesn't resign right away.
Eventually, at approximately nine o'clock, Lalu received a report from the state intelligence services. The CRPF, RAF, and local police have reportedly been urged to maintain a high state of alertness in case of an arrest.
M. Karunanidhi, the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, also called Lalu at around eleven o'clock and suggested that he step down. At 2:00 pm, Lalu was having a conversation with his close associates when Congress President Sitaram Kesari spoke with him as well. The Chief Minister's house was surrounded by RAF forces by that point.
At 2:30 pm, Lalu Yadav hurriedly convened a conference of MLAs. Lalu declared loudly at the start of this 40-minute meeting, "We have elected Rabri." The MLAs in attendance agreed, saying, "Yes, sir, you did the right thing." It was requested that each and every MLA sign the document endorsing Rabri as Chief Minister.
In 1997, senior journalist Javed M. Ansari wrote a piece for India Today magazine detailing the entire episode. Lalu departed for Raj Bhavan at 3:10 p.m. and tendered his resignation. 'Rabri Devi Zindabad' was being chanted by the audience when Lalu emerged from the governor's mansion. Lalu exclaimed, "You people forgot me so quickly," as she turned to face the assembly.
"The way Lalu left all the big leaders and took Rabri Devi out of the kitchen and made her the CM, it shows his strong hold in the politics of Bihar," senior journalist Sankarshan Thakur wrote in his book "The Brothers Bihari."
One year after independence, on June 11, 1948, Lalu Yadav was born in Phulwaria hamlet in the Gopalganj district. In his book "The Brothers Bihari," seasoned journalist Sankarshan Thakur quotes Lalu's older brother Mangru Rai, saying, "Lalu Yadav was the sixth of Kundan Rai's eight children." Barely one bigha of land was registered in Lalu's father's name at the time of his birth.
The cabin belonged to his family. Mahavir Rai, Lalu's older brother, was employed by the Veterinary College. Lalu Yadav had accompanied the older brother to Patna in order to instruct him. At Patna University, Lalu Prasad initiated student union politics.
Dozens of students would assemble to hear Lalu speak whenever he had a speech. In 1970, Lalu was elected General Secretary of the Patna University Students Union, and in 1973, he was made President.
Lalu became a part of the JP movement in 1974. Using a Janata Party ticket, 29-year-old Lalu won his first seat as a Member of Parliament from Chapra in the 1977 elections that followed the Emergency. He served as Leader of the Opposition and as a member of the Legislative Assembly three times between 1980 and 1989.
When Lalu made the decision to become CM, he called Chandrashekhar. A Janata Dal meeting was taking place in Braj Kishore Hall, near the banks of the Ganga, on March 8, 1990. This was to be the site of the Bihar Chief Minister's election. With 120 MLAs, Janata Dal had become the largest party in the 324-member Bihar Assembly.
Janata Dal had two primary candidates for the Chief Minister position: Ramsundar Das and Lalu Prasad Yadav.
Lalu Yadav came to the realization that he might not win the legislature party leader position. So, the night before the conference, he gave a call to the seasoned leader of that period, Chandrashekhar.
In his autobiography, "Political Journey from Gopalganj to Raisina," Lalu Yadav writes that he warned Chandrashekhar that "VP Singh's man will sit on the throne of CM in Bihar if you do not do anything." At the moment, Chandrashekhar was furious with VP Singh. Three months prior, VP Singh had cheated Chandrashekhar to become prime minister. Lalu capitalized on this animosity.
Chandrashekhar handed the phone to his trusted friend Raghunath Jha as soon as he hung up from Lalu. Raghunath made a similar claim to lead the parliamentary party the following morning. Thus, the election took on a triangular shape.
The voting will take place at Braj Kishore Hall, as decided by the observers. On the Janata Dal ticket, 120 MLAs, 5 MLCs, and 2 independent MLAs cast ballots. Twelve of the 127 MLAs cast ballots, with 56 going to Ram Sundar Das, 59 to Lalu Yadav, and 12 to Raghunath Jha. Raghunath Jha's group of twelve MLAs from higher castes was advantageous to Lalu. Thus, Lalu assumed the role of Chief Minister of Bihar at the age of 42.
'It was startling that even after becoming the Chief Minister, he was residing in his brother's Peon quarter,' recalls Sankarshan Thakur. According to officials, this will lead to issues with administration and security. However, he would always respond, "We are the Chief Minister," each time. Everyone is aware. Follow our instructions. Lalu moved from Peon Quarter to the Chief Minister's mansion four months after taking office.
Lalu remembers things quite well. He never forgets the name or face of someone he encounters. RJD leader Shivanand Tiwari told the BBC about a comparable occurrence. Lalu once arrived at a public gathering a little early, according to Shivanand. They were encircled by residents of the adjoining Musahar village. A girl was attempting to look Lalu in the eye. Lalu said, "Sukhmani, why are you here?" as soon as he saw her. He was instantly given Rs 500 by Lalu, who instructed him to purchase candies for the kids.
Actually, the woman resided in the neighboring Musahar Tola when Lalu was living in the Veterinary College's quarters. Years later, Lalu could still recognize his name and face.
PM of his own party, still ensnared in the fraud of fodder.
Lalu Prasad Yadav's reputation in Janata Dal had greatly expanded with the cancellation of the Ram Rath Yatra in Bihar and the apprehension of Lal Krishna Advani. In the 1995 Bihar Assembly elections, Janata Dal also prevailed, and Lalu Prasad was elected Bihar's chief minister on his own this time.
India's central politics are thought to have been at their most turbulent between 1996 and 1998. Lalu Prasad Yadav was the Chief Minister of Bihar and the National President of Janata Dal at the time. Following the Hawala affair, SR Bommai's name surfaced, and he was given the party's direction. During that time, Lalu would add, 'Hawala gave me the Janata Dal.'
With the support of Congress, H.D. Deve Gowda, the prime minister of Janata Dal, took office on June 1, 1996. In his memoirs "Matters of Discretion," former prime minister Inder Kumar Gujral stated that Janata Dal president Lalu Yadav and Devi Gowda did not get along. Deve Gowda gave the CBI permission to move forward with investigating Lalu for the fodder scandal.
In April 1997, the Deve Gowda government collapsed due to a withdrawal of Congress support. Inder Kumar Gujral took office as India's 12th prime minister on April 21. Lalu Yadav was also in favour of Gujral.
A few days later, the CBI discussed charging Lalu Yadav in a statement. Lalu inquired of PM Gujral, "What is going on? You are doing the same thing that made you the PM by removing one person.
Lalu discussed this problem with a number of close leaders he called that day, including Sharad Yadav, Jyoti Basu, and Chandrababu Naidu. Everyone said that you would have to step down from your position as CM if the CBI filed the charge sheet. Lalu realized that his own people were starting to turn away from him at this point.
When Lalu realized he was losing the president and chief minister positions, he founded a new party.
Governor AR Kidwai authorized the CBI to initiate charges against Lalu Yadav on June 17, 1997. Lalu Yadav was asked to resign by Sharad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan. In the meantime, the Janata Dal Party's national president election has taken place. Sharad Yadav put Lalu Yadav up against each other in the party presidential contest.
In his book, "Political Journey: Gopalganj to Raisina," Lalu Yadav states, "I had not even considered that Sharad Yadav would run against me in the presidential election." Because of their desire, those who were meant to stand by me have now turned against me. My patience ran out after this. I decided that enough was enough.
Lalu Yadav said in the Assembly on July 5, 1997, that Rashtriya Janata Dal would be formed as a new party, independent of Janata Dal. Out of the 22 Janata Dal MPs in Bihar, 16 joined Lalu Yadav. Lalu Prasad Yadav became the national president of the newly founded Rashtriya Janata Dal party in this manner.
He appointed his wife as the Chief Minister just before he was set to go to jail.
In the fodder fraud case, the CBI issued a charge sheet against 55 individuals on June 23, 1997, including Lalu. There were 63 cases filed against him. Lalu realized the arrest was inevitable. Nineteen days after establishing the new party, on July 24, 1997, he declared his intention to step down as Chief Minister.
People in Bihar and throughout the nation were taken aback by the decision to name Rabri Devi as chief minister. By designating Rabri as the CM, Lalu was able to maintain control over the party and the family.
In his book, Lalu Yadav stated that he had not made the choice to choose Rabri as the chief minister hastily. Congress President Sitaram Kesari specifically recommended that I appoint his wife Rabri Devi as chief minister, according to Lalu. At the time, I laughed at his suggestion.
In the fodder fraud case, Lalu Yadav turned himself in on July 30, 1997, after appointing his wife as chief minister. He was imprisoned till December 1997. Lalu Yadav, however, continued to lead the RJD as its national president.
In-law brother The influence of Sadhu Yadav stemmed from his sister-in-law's position. At 7:30 p.m. on July 3, 1999, the Patna Gandhi Maidan police station area police officers arrived at Fraser Road's number twelve. Rabri Devi's brother, Sadhu Yadav, lived at this home. In the garage, police discovered two bodies in a white Jane automobile. Shilpi and Gautam owned these.
The police ruled both deaths to be suicides before the postmortem had gotten underway. Because the car carrying the deceased was transported to the police station, all of the fingerprints on that car were altered. They both had their postmortems completed that same night. The police were in such a rush that they even carried out Gautam's final rites that same evening.
The family members' claim, however, differed. Family members said that Shilpi Jain, a female, would be traveling by rickshaw to her institute in Patna to study. She encounters the friend of her lover, Gautam Singh, en route. Sat on her bike was Shilpi. The boy took Shilpi to a guest house in Phulwari Sharif instead of the institute.
Gautam arrived at the guest house after learning of this information from someone. There were a lot of individuals harassing Shilpi. Shilpi was gang-raped and killed, and Gautam was strangled to death when he attempted to stop him. The family filed a FIR when neither of them made it home.
When the then-SP City Bhatia was charged with attempting to rescue Chief Minister Rabri Devi's brother Sadhu Yadav, Sadhu's involvement in this case became apparent. The opposition raised a fuss about this issue. Protests against Sadhu Yadav began. In September 1999, Rabri Devi handed the matter over to the CBI due to mounting pressure.
Sadhu Yadav declined to provide the CBI with blood and DNA samples. Before the CBI, Sadhu Yadav did not even record his statement. Ultimately, the CBI terminated the investigation on August 1, 2003, declaring it a suicide.
Sadhu was also charged with assaulting a JNU student and scamming for flood aid. Lalu separated from Sadhu Yadav in 2005. The Shilpi Jain case demonstrated that although sister-in-laws held authority, brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav possessed the hegemony.
Lalu gave his younger son, Tejashwi Yadav, his political inheritance. Tejashwi had a boyhood dream of playing cricket. From 2008 to 2012, he was a member of the Delhi Daredevil squad for four IPL seasons. He did, however, play the majority of the matches during this time as an additional player. In defense of Tejashwi, Lalu Yadav had previously declared that he was carrying a towel and water right now and would bat afterwards.
Regarding Tejashwi's potential entry into politics, Sadhu Yadav, his maternal uncle, stated in an interview that he does not recall Tejashwi ever showing any interest in politics. I'm not sure how he became interested in politics after 2009.
Lalu provided Tejashwi Yadav with an opportunity to try his hand at politics in 2009. Tejashwi had taken part in numerous assembly election rallies.
Tejashwi Yadav ran for the Raghopur Assembly elections in 2015. Tejashwi Yadav, who is 26 years old, won the elections and is now the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar.
Under Tejashwi's direction, RJD ran candidates for the Bihar Assembly while his father was incarcerated. This time, the party was running against the coalition of the JDU and BJP. In spite of this, the RJD secured 80 seats, making it the biggest party in Bihar.
Lalu Yadav declared, "Tejashwi Yadav has gone much ahead of us; no one becomes someone by making someone else; he becomes himself," after being released from prison in April 2022.
A two-day RJD convention was held in Delhi on October 11, 2022, almost six months following this remark. During this discussion, two significant ideas were approved. Firstly, Tejashwi Yadav will be the sole one speaking about RJD policy and other pertinent issues. Second: Important choices like the party name, electoral symbol, and ticket allocation will only be made in the future by Lalu Yadav and Tejashwi.
These two choices demonstrated that Lalu has effectively given Tejashwi control of the party and his political legacy.
Misa Bharti: She was transferred to the Rajya Sabha after losing the Lok Sabha elections.
Lalu Yadav granted his daughter Misa Bharti a ticket for the Patliputra Lok Sabha seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Ramkripal Yadav, who turned against his own party and joined the BJP, was the opponent she ran against in the elections.
But Misa was going to lose this election. Misa was sent to the Rajya Sabha two years later on the party's behalf. She ran for office from the Patliputra Lok Sabha seat once more in 2019. Misa lost the election this time as well, but in 2022 she was elected as an RJD MP to the Rajya Sabha once more.
Tej Pratap Yadav: Upon becoming an MLA, Lalu Yadav was appointed Health Minister.
In the 2015 assembly elections, Lalu Yadav ran his older son Tej Pratap Yadav from the Mahua seat. He was appointed Health Minister of Bihar in the Nitish government as soon as he emerged victorious in elections for the first time. He was given the Environment Ministry in his second term. He currently manages a YouTube channel in addition to being a member of the Legislative Assembly.
Rohini Acharya: She donated a kidney to her father and is running for Lok Sabha this time.
In 2024, Rohini Acharya, the doctor daughter of Lalu, will run for the Saran Lok Sabha constituency in Bihar. He declared that he would launch his campaign on April 2. With an MBBS, Rohini Acharya is a medical professional. In 2002, she married Samaresh Singh, an income tax official and software developer. When Lalu's condition worsened, Rohini gave her father a kidney donation.
Prime Minister Modi had charged Lalu Yadav with dynasty politics in February 2022. On February 11, 2022, Lalu responded to this by saying, "May God grant Modi a few sons and daughters as well." Since Nitish has an ego, he is also incompetent.
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On April 5, watch the third episode of "Parivar Raj" to learn about the Uttar Pradesh family of Mulayam Singh Yadav. How a former wrestler and English teacher became CM and advanced his family's political career.
