Lalu Prasad Yadav (born June 11, 1948)

He is a prominent Indian politician from Bihar and the President of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). He served as Chief Minister of Bihar from 1990 to 1997 and later held the position of Railway Minister in the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government from 2004 to 2009.

During his tenure as an MP from Saran (Bihar) in the 15th Lok Sabha, Yadav was convicted in the notorious fodder scam case by a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) court in Ranchi. In October 2013, he was sentenced to five years in prison and fined twenty-five lakh rupees. He was held at Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi but secured bail from the Supreme Court on December 13, 2013, after spending two months in jail.

Following his conviction, Yadav and Jagdish Sharma of Janata Dal United were disqualified from the Lok Sabha. According to new regulations at the time, this disqualification was enacted by the General Secretary of the Lok Sabha, making Yadav the first Lok Sabha MP in Indian history to lose his membership of Parliament due to such a conviction.

Politics:

Earlier:

Lalu Prasad Yadav began his political career as general secretary of Patna University Students Union (PUSU) in 1970, becoming its president in 1973. In 1974, he joined the Bihar Movement, led by Jayaprakash Narayan (JP), advocating for the rights of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and backward classes. As president of the Bihar Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti, he gained prominence and was nominated by the Janata Party as the candidate for Chhapra in the 1977 Lok Sabha election. Supported by Janata Party leader Satyendra Narayan Sinha, Yadav won and became one of the youngest MPs at 29.

Following the Janata Party government’s collapse in 1980 due to internal conflicts, Yadav was inspired by Jayaprakash Narayan and Raj Narayan. He joined the Janata Party-S, led by Lokbhau Raj Narayan, but lost the 1980 elections. However, he won a Bihar Assembly seat that year and was re-elected in 1985. After Karpuri Thakur’s death in 1989, Yadav became the leader of the opposition in the Bihar Assembly and was also elected to the Lok Sabha under the V.P. Singh government.

By 1990, Yadav emerged as a key leader for the Yadav community and gained significant support from Muslims in Bihar, who shifted their allegiance to him following the 1989 Bhagalpur violence. Over the next decade, he solidified his influence as a dominant force in Bihar politics, particularly among Muslim and Yadav voters.

CM of Bihar:

Lalu Prasad Yadav became Chief Minister of Bihar in 1990 and secured a landslide victory in 1995. On September 23, 1990, he arrested LK Advani in Samastipur during the Ram Rath Yatra, positioning himself as a secular leader. During the 1990s, his government earned praise from the World Bank for its economic initiatives. In 1993, Yadav introduced a policy to reintegrate English into the school curriculum. His political support has largely been driven by the Muslim-Yadav (MY) factor, which he has openly acknowledged.

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD):

Lalu Prasad Yadav enjoys reading biographies of revolutionaries and articles on political and economic topics. He also serves as the President of the Bihar Cricket Association and appeared in a film named after him.

In July 1997, Yadav left the Janata Dal to form the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Following his arrest, he resigned as Chief Minister and appointed his wife, Rabri Devi, to the role. She faced challenges in securing a trust vote but received support from the Congress and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.

In 1998, Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government took office at the center. During the 2000 assembly elections in Bihar, the RJD fell to a minority, leading to a brief government by Nitish Kumar that failed to last. Rabri Devi was reinstated as Chief Minister, with 22 Congress MLAs joining her cabinet.

In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, Yadav played a key role as a “kingmaker” and became Railway Minister. His tenure was marked by a turnaround in the Indian Railways’ financial status, making it a model of efficiency studied globally. However, in 2005, the RJD lost the Bihar assembly elections, and by 2009, only four RJD MPs won their seats in the Lok Sabha. Lalu’s political future became uncertain as the Congress, which had previously supported him, was unable to protect him from the fallout of the ordinance shielding tainted public officials.

Scam Case:

In 1997, Lalu Prasad Yadav was forced to resign as Chief Minister of Bihar following a charge sheet by the CBI in the Fodder Scam case. He then became the President of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), transferring the Chief Minister role to his wife, Rabri Devi, while maintaining indirect control over the government. Yadav was jailed for several months due to the scam.

The Fodder Scam trial, which spanned nearly seventeen years, culminated on October 3, 2013, when CBI Special Court Judge Pravas Kumar Singh sentenced Yadav to five years in prison and imposed a fine of twenty-five lakh rupees, delivered via video conferencing.

Following his conviction, Yadav and JD(U) leader Jagdish Sharma were disqualified from the Lok Sabha. Yadav lost his membership of Parliament while serving his sentence in Ranchi. Under the Election Commission‘s new rules, he faced an eleven-year ban from contesting Lok Sabha elections (five years of imprisonment plus six years post-release). The Supreme Court of India also removed the provision that had protected MPs convicted in the Fodder Scam from disqualification. Lok Sabha Secretary General S. Balashekhar issued the notification formalizing Yadav’s disqualification, making him the first Lok Sabha MP in Indian history to lose his membership due to such a conviction, with Sharma being the second, disqualified for ten years.

In February 2022, Yadav was sentenced to an additional five years in prison and fined Rs 60 lakh in the Doranda treasury fodder scam by Special Court Judge SK Sashi.

Political Disputes:

Allegations Against BJP

On August 5, 2004, Lalu Prasad Yadav accused L.K. Advani, a senior BJP leader and Leader of the Opposition, of being involved in a conspiracy to assassinate Muhammad Ali Jinnah, labeling him as an ‘international fugitive’.

On September 28, 2004, Yadav alleged to Venkaiah Naidu, then Union Rural Development Minister, that 55,000 tones of wheat intended for drought relief in Andhra Pradesh had been misappropriated. He called for a CBI inquiry to investigate the claim.

Corruption, Nepotism, and Dynasty

Yadav became one of the first high-profile politicians to lose a parliamentary seat due to arrest in the fodder scam, following a Supreme Court ruling barring convicted legislators from holding office. During his tenure as Chief Minister, Bihar experienced severe law and order issues, including rising kidnappings and the emergence of private armies. Yadav faced criticism for his handling of the Shilpi-Gautam murder case and the suspicious death of his daughter Ragini Yadav’s friend, Abhishek Mishra, with allegations involving his brother-in-law, Sadhu Yadav. Despite numerous corruption cases against them, Yadav and his wife Rabri Devi governed Bihar for 15 years, a period marked by declining economic and social indicators compared to other Indian states.

Tax Evasion Charges

The Income Tax department summoned MP Misa Bharti to investigate alleged benami transactions between June 12 and June 15.