Laloo? 'He Even Misappropriated Funds From The JP Movement'

What is your response to Laloo's announcement about his forthcoming book?

I have never even seen a four line petition written in Laloo's handwriting. Even while he was the chiefminister, Laloo just signed on files which had orders written by other people. He is talking of writing a bookagainst the RSS just to grab media attention. However, if he really does accomplish this historical task ofwriting this book, then I will also write a book to expose his antics during the students movement, whichashamed all the front line leaders of the movement including J.P. Though it is very nice that Laloo hasdecided to write a book. As soon as his book comes out, I will start preparing for mine.

Laloo says he is serious about exposing the RSS.

Laloo Yadav is probably the biggest liar, impostor and opportunist in Indian politics. No one else has thechutzpah to match his litany of blatant lies. In 1973, during the Patna University Student Union elections,when Laloo was elected the president, and I the secretary, it was his alliance with Vidyarthi Parishad whichwas responsible for his victory. Thus his political foundations are based on Vidyarthi Parishad and the Sangh,whatever else he might twist with his long tongue today..

Today he might be saying that the Sangh people ran away showing their backs during the 1974 movement and Emergency,but the truth is that it was the the RSS and Jan Sangh who formed the Lok Sangharsh Samiti and organised satyagrahasoffering more than two lakh of their cadre for arrests all across the country. Even JP, despite being astaunch socialist always had differences with the RSS, was very impressed with its capability.

All the important decisions taken by JP during 1974 and Emergency, always included the valuable advice ofGovindacharya and Nanaji Deshmukh. That is why, when Emergency was lifted and RSS held a camp at Shekhpura inPatna, JP  made sure to visit and even went to the extent of saying that if the RSS was fascist, then hewas fascist too. The truth is that it was the RSS which had to suffer serious damage because of its alliancewith JP. Smt. Gandhi banned it just because of this.

Laloo is once again raking up the old controversy by saying that Atal Behari Vajpayee apologised to theBritish in 1942...

Even the Congress had earlier made a similar allegation against Atalji, but clarifications and denials havebeen issued many times. There is nothing to say about this worn-out allegation. But Laloo's claim that hehanded the leadership of 1974 movement to JP is a total lie.

The truth is that a few months before the movement, Laloo was all set to join the Congress. He had almostsettled the issue of joining Congress with the help of Dr. Ramraj Singh, then education minister in Congressgovernment and ex-Congress Chief Minister Daroga Rai. Before contesting the student union elections in PatnaUniversity, he had gone to seek blessings from Daroga Rai 

It was mere chance that he got arrested during the student movement. When Laloo was the president of thestudents union, I happened to be the secretary. From organising the students meetings to inviting JP, to theinaugural ceremony of the students union, I managed all the preparations for the function. Laloo was notbothered about any of this. He just walked in at the last moment to chair the function, being the president ofthe students union. He wasn't concerned with how the function was organised, or who came and went.

But Laloo says that during the students movement, when it was the turn of facing  lathis andgetting arrested, the RSS and Vidyarthi Parishad people ran away.

As I already said, no one can compete with Laloo in lying. When there was a lathi-charge and firing inPatna on 18 March 1974, we were the ones facing the lathis but Laloo was nowhere to be found. He ranoff and hid in the Chaprasi quarters at the veterinary college where his brother studied, and then fromthere he himself phoned up various people to spread the rumour that he had been killed in firing. This rumourled to unnecessary tension at various places. But Laloo was happily relaxing in his room with a smile on hisface.

For five days after the March 18 incident, there was no sign of Laloo.  It was during this time thatwe went under the leadership of journalist Ram Bahadur Rai to meet JP and requested him to lead the movement.JP put some conditions and agreed. Then on 7 April, 1974 he joined the silent rally in Patna to formallyassume leadership of the movement. All this while we were busy looking for Laloo Yadav, not knowing where hewas. Anyway, I was in jail for 19 months during emergency.  My colleagues and I were arrested five timesunder MISA.

It is also true that most of the time Laloo himself kept running away from arrest; and when he was arrested,he feigned he had an ulcer in his stomach and so was taken to hospital. To be moved to the hospital fromprison, he again resorted to lies - claimed vomiting, loose motions and a persistent pain in his stomach. Sohe was admitted to Patna Medical College Hospital (PMCH). At the time only PMCH had the facility of BariumX-Ray for testing ulcers. Laloo bullied the junior doctor and nurse into making the Barium powder disappear,so that his ulcer could not be tested. At the time, Dr. Ramlakhan Lal was the head of medicine. He was verystrict. Whenever he was on the rounds, Laloo would go and hide on the terrace. One day Dr. Ramlakhan Lallanded at the terrace looking for Laloo, and a big scene was created.. Apart from this, Laloo even gave hisLaw exams from prison. I was witness to how he wrote the papers with books open. Laloo's antics can fill athousand page book. There is an saying about him - aisaa koi sagaa nahii, jisko Laloo ne thagaa nahii. (Thereis no such close one who has not been conned by Laloo).

You cannot deny that during the movement JP gave a lot of importance to Laloo in Chhatra SangharshSamiti!

Actually Laloo was the only student leader from the backward tribes in the Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti. It wasthese people who spread rumours that JP gave importance to upper castes and kayasthas in the movement.To avoid such allegations, JP gave importance to student leaders like Laloo, but Laloo troubled him a lot.Laloo took the maximum coupons and collected lot of funds, but he even misappropriated all this money meantfor the movement. When other student leaders travelled in buses, Laloo Yadav couldn't do without taxis.

But at least once Laloo assumed power, he also brought in all his colleagues from the movement days andmade them get a taste of it...

The prime example is ex MLA Ranjan Yadav. Although Laloo did make him a Rajya Sabha member, he also threwhim out, as you would throw out a fly that falls in the milk. The real story is that while contesting for thepresident's post in student union elections, Laoo lost to Dr.Ram Jatan Sinha who is currently the president ofBihar Congress. Upset from this loss, Laloo went back to his world of veterinary college where he had casualemployment as a clerk. For about an year and a half, he didn't even cast a glance towards the Patna Universitycampus. When the student union elections were held again in 1973, it was Ranjan Yadav who brought him backfrom the dungeons of anonymity and made him contest the president's post. By that time Laloo was no longer astudent of Patna University, so it was Ranjan Yadav who got his enrollment backdated in Patna Law College. ButLaloo has pushed Ranjan Yadav into political wilderness.

No matter how you criticise Laloo, but at least he hasn't allowed the BJP or NDA to rise in Bihar. Noneof the NDA candidates won in the recent Vidhan Parishad elections...

We have already destroyed the myth of Laloo's power in 1999 Lok Sabha elections, when Laloo himself lost atMadhepura. Only seven of his candidates won from the 54 seats in undivided Bihar. Of those seven, three are inthe NDA now. Yes, during the state assembly elections in year 2000, he gained from the internal feud in he NDA,but still his seats fell from 167 to 120. NDA will thrash him again in the next Lok Sabha elections.

Laloo calls Savarkar a traitor and has objected to his picture being placed in Parliament...

Laloo doesn't have the stature to speak about Veer Savarkar. What's his character? Today he sits in the lapof the same Congress he fought in the Students Movement. As for JP, you can see how he is celebrating JP'sbirth centenary in Bihar. There are infinite stories about him. If he has the guts, then he should try sittingon the CM's chair again. Nothing can be more unfortunate than the way he is running Bihar hiding behind anaive lady like Rabri Devi.

Translated from Outlook Saptahik, August 4, 2003, pp 40-41