As Bihar polls near, Laloo gets into the act: Abhi to circus shuru hua hai

‘‘The BJP is a python,’’ he explains to his bewildered audience, ‘‘which has swallowed all these ‘bhagwa socialists’—Nitish (Kumar), George (Fernandes), Sharad (Yadav). And once I beat it dead, those little creatures will be jumping all around.’’

And no, he does not need Paswan or indeed anyone to help him fight the ‘‘Fascist forces’’; he has fought them singlehandedly since the day he arrested L K Advani and stalled his rath yatra all those years ago, and has been battling them ever since.

In fact, too many allies will only be a headache. ‘‘If the Congress, Left, Lok Janashakti Party (LJP) and others come on board, what will I be left with? Each of them will demand 50, 60, 70 seats (of the 234 assembly constituencies) and I will be left with just 10 or 15,’’ cribs Laloo, to the appreciative nods of his RJD flock.

‘‘I made a mistake in tying up with Paswan during the Lok Sabha elections. If I had not backed him, his LJP would not have won even a single seat,’’ he insists, and laughs away the contention that Paswan brought the alliance some crucial Dalit support.

But didn’t he project Paswan as a future prime minister during the election campaign? ‘‘Did I?’’ asks Laloo. And then adds, with mock seriousness, that he could not have said something so insulting. ‘‘Ram Vilas Paswan koi chota-mota neta nahin hain. Unka naam Ginni book main hai. Wo national nahin, international neta hain. Pradhan mantri to sirf national neta bante hain (Ram Vilas Paswan is not a minor figure. His name is in the Guinness book. He is not a national leader but an international one. And only national leaders become prime ministers).’’

Then, his voice dropping to a whisper, Laloo asks this reporter, ‘‘Have you actually seen his name in that Ginni book?’’ No, but everyone knows that Paswan won with the biggest margin in 1977 and made it to the record book. ‘‘Well, everyone knows because he doesn’t stop talking about it. But no one I know has seen it.’’

Paswan, though, is the least of his concerns. At the moment, he is enjoying the way he has made the BJP squirm over the Godhra inquiry. ‘‘Abhi to circus shuru hua hai. Dekhte rahiye (The circus has just begun, keep watching),’’ he says, with barely concealed glee.

If the BJP has decided to target him and his RJD colleagues on the ‘‘tainted ministers’’ issue, Laloo is determined to pay back by being a perpetual thorn in their hide. That is why, even as the Left largely confines itself to economic issues and the Congress remains divided and diffident over the extent of its ‘‘ideological battle’’ against the Sangh Parivar, Laloo has emerged as the sword arm of the UPA both inside and outside Parliament.

Be it backing Mani Shankar Aiyar on the Savarkar issue and Arjun Singh in his anti-RSS campaign, attacking the Dharam Singh government for going soft on Uma Bharati, or taking on Narendra Modi on the Godhra issue, Laloo is the ringmaster taking on the BJP ‘‘circus’’, in the deceptive guise of a clown.

The UPA Government, he insists, is the best thing that could have happened to him. For the first time in 15 years, the Bihar government and the Centre are being run by the same coalition. The ‘‘historic neglect’’ of Bihar may finally come to an end, he says, listing the various irrigation, roads and power projects which have been sanctioned in the last 100 days.

So will he fight the Bihar elections on the development plank this time? The RJD supremo is far too shrewd to fall for the ‘bijli, sadak, paani’ line just yet.

‘‘Yes, vikas will be an issue. But what is vikas without social justice and communal harmony? The python (Sangh Parivar) is writhing with pain but it is still alive. I have to crush its head—that is my first priority in Bihar and the rest of the country,’’ says Laloo. Dekhte rahiye.