The lathi rally of Rashtriya Janta Dal chief, Laloo Prasad Yadav, has commenced amidst mighty preparations and to hell with the inconvenience caused to the people. There are posters of ‘Lalooa’ everywhere in Patna, pandals have been constructed and Laloo is doing what he does best: Staging a political drama to prove that he’s still king of Bihar and ready to face the assembly elections scheduled for 2005. The Yadav prince has always been the master of the political spectacle. Whether it was riding to prison on an elephant, grandly declaring ‘‘Pataliputra is coming’’ in the United Front years, or insisting on being photographed milking cows in his signature send-up of middle class morality, political nautanki has always been his ruling device. With Yadavs and Muslims as his loyal vote bank, Laloo—who famously arrested Advani during his rath yatra—has always regarded himself as the greatest opponent of the Sangh parivar. The lathi rally is being projected as a fitting answer to Pravin Togadia’s trishul campaign, showing that Hindu consolidation has got the Bihari bhaiyya more than a little worried. Bihar now ranks last in terms of the human development index and allegations of a severe breakdown of law and order are being made against the government headed by his loyal wife Rabri. But is welfare the focus of Laloo’s concerns? Not at all. In fact, the lathi rally is even meant to be a riposte, not only to Togadia but George Bush, showing that his vision has turned decidedly global. Life has taken a turn for the worse for Yadav since the heady early nineties, when he was seen as the son-of-the soil politician with atttractively rustic ways who would be the future hope of Indian democracy. When the United Front government was in power, Laloo played kingmaker but his fortunes tumbled precipitously after the fodder scam. In any case, the Laloo magic has always remained confined to Bihar. He was ineffective in the Gujarat campaign with crowds turning up merely to laugh at his comic harangues. Now with Togadia and the VHP stealing all the political and media attention, Laloo is reasserting his claim to his place in the political sun. Today, Patna is at a standstill because of his ambitions; public transport and facilities have been hijacked for the rally and schools have been closed down. The lathi is supposed to be a stick to hit the trishul; instead the hardest hit seem to be the suffering citizens of Patna.
