Off the development track

Lalu Prasad seems to have shifted back to vote-bank politics after a short tryst with the development mantra. But with Bihar having seen a period of relative prosperity and security under Nitish Kumar, the tactic may not work

Railway minister Lalu Prasad seemed to have dropped his plank of social justice for economic development after his Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) was ousted from power in Bihar by Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United), or JD(U), in the 2005 assembly elections.

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It was after that defeat, which ended 15 years of “Lalu

” (rule) over Bihar, that Prasad displayed a sense of urgency bordering on desperation to locate big-ticket railway projects in the state, according to ministry officials who have worked closely with him.

“It was understood that the minister was looking at maximizing investment in Bihar and so these plans for the loco factories were taken up,” said a former railway official who did not want to be identified. Prasad’s attempts to fast-track the locomotive projects in the months preceding the general election failed, and they have been pushed back.

For a politician who built a formidable support base of backward castes and Muslims on the plank of ensuring social justice, the 2005 defeat appeared to have come as a wake-up call that he needed to do more for the state’s economic development to return to favour with voters.

But, closer to the general election that kicks off on Thursday, the 60-year-old politician known for his rustic wit and earthy charisma seems to have fallen back on vote-bank politics.

Prasad is contesting the Saran Lok Sabha seat, taking on Rajiv Pratap Rudy of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Thursday’s election. The Bahujan Samaj Party, or BSP, has fielded a Muslim candidate, Saleem Parwez, who could cut into the RJD’s Muslim vote bank.

It is perhaps this concern that led Prasad to attack Varun Gandhi, the young BJP politician whose hate speech targeting Muslims last month has landed him in jail. Had he been the home minister, Prasad said at an election rally, he would have run a “roller over his chest and thought about the consequences later”. The RJD chief escaped with a censure from the Election Commission.