When Rahul Gandhi took a dig at himself over his unmarried status in Bihar on Sunday, this was only the latest revival of a sub-plot in his political journey. And it continues to feature political veteran Lalu Prasad Yadav as a potential matchmaker.
The Congress MP, who turned 55 recently, pointed to himself just after RJD's Tejashwi Yadav made a suggestion to rival Chirag Paswan, 42, of the LJP (RV) to get married.
“I would like to suggest to Chirag Paswan ji, who is like an elder brother, to get married sooner rather than later,” Tejashwi, 32 and a father of two, said in a light-hearted answer to a reporter's question about their political equation.
Rahul then took the mic from Tejashwi and remarked, “This is applicable to me too,” smiling wide. Tejashwi mentioned his father Lalu Prasad Yadav's persistent efforts to this effect.
“It's going on, through his father,” Rahul said cheekily.
This was a lower-profile redux of a 2023 press conference at which Tejashwi's father, former union minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, told Rahul Gandhi insistently: “You must get married so we can be part of the baraat (groom's procession). Shaadi kariye! Baat maaniye! (Get married now, listen to me).”
{{/usCountry}}This was a lower-profile redux of a 2023 press conference at which Tejashwi's father, former union minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, told Rahul Gandhi insistently: “You must get married so we can be part of the baraat (groom's procession). Shaadi kariye! Baat maaniye! (Get married now, listen to me).”
{{/usCountry}}“It's still not too late. You have not been paying heed to my word on this for a long time now,” the former Bihar CM said at that event in June 2023.
Rahul replied then, “Now that you've said it, it will be done!”
Lalu Yadav also brought up his mother, Sonia Gandhi: “Your mummy told me you don't listen to her, and that I should get you married.”
The incumbent Bihar CM, Nitish Kumar of the JDU, was also on stage with Rahul, Lalu Yadav and other INDIA bloc leaders at the time. This was before Nitish went back again to the BJP-led NDA ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha contest.
Meanwhile, on the political front, on Sunday Rahul Gandhi and Tejashwi Yadav continued with their ‘Voter Adhikar Yatra’ that comes with just about two months remaining in the Bihar assembly election being due.
Rahul Gandhi reiterated his charges that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state was “a collusion of the BJP and the Election Commission to take away people's rights”.