Lalu Prasad: The phoenix of Bihar politics

He is conscious of a deep debt of gratitude he has to repay, to old-foe-turned-best-friend Nitish Kumar

Lalu Prasad is conscious of a deep debt of gratitude he has to repay, to old-foe-turned-best-friend Nitish Kumar, who is responsible for the former chief minister's resuscitation in politics.

The adage is, no one can ever be written off in politics. Old soldiers fade away, cowboys ride away into the sunset but political ambition and leadership can never be snuffed out. Prasad made a place for himself in history for two things: Empowerment of Other Backward Classes (OBCs), especially the Yadavs; and unequivocal backing to the minority Muslims. Nobody, not even a criminal conviction and a term in jail, can take that away from him. The 2015 assembly election has proved.

In Bihar, it is not for governance that Prasad will be remembered but for caste empowerment. Although much was made of his tenure as railway minister, Prasad’s grasp of administration was so poor that a perfectly good idea – “importing” organically grown vegetables and fruit from the diara (alluvial fields by the river) of Bihar to Delhi in cooled railway containers, failed. The experiment lasted exactly one month — because there were no market linkages, forward or backward —  the produce came to Delhi railway station and rotted away. This was just a cameo of everything that went wrong with Bihar for the 15 years that his and he family ruled the state — with the state in retreat, emasculation of the bureaucracy and promotion of caprice.

But equally, while Kumar may have compromised and done a deal with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Prasad remained a votary of traditional “secularism”.  The minorities have paid him their respects in election after election, especially this one. But Prasad is tired now though he doesn’t look as if he is ready to retire. His tying up with Kumar — after all was said and done — shows not only a degree of generosity, but also political pragmatism. Torn between anxiety about a political successor in the absence of a succession plan in the party, Prasad’s loyalties are divided between his clan. Two of his sons have contested this election. His daughter was roundly defeated in the Lok Sabha election by a man Prasad always considered an extension of his family. Who should the social justice legacy be bequeathed to?

Judging by the new bonhomie between the two erstwhile political colleagues, Kumar has now emerged as a trustee of the political OBC mobilisation — who could extend his role to becoming an arbiter in family warfare in the future. Prasad will ensure Kumar does not deviate from the secular project. And their tie-up could become a major political headache for all the rival combinations which are eyeing the next Lok Sabha election.