WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.980 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Our job here is 00:00:02.980 --> 00:00:05.500 to take the complex, sprawling source material, 00:00:05.799 --> 00:00:08.359 filter out the noise, and deliver the essential 00:00:08.359 --> 00:00:10.919 insights tailored just for you, the learner. 00:00:11.179 --> 00:00:13.779 Today, we are deep diving into the extraordinary 00:00:13.779 --> 00:00:16.699 and I think volatile life of one of the most 00:00:16.699 --> 00:00:19.199 consequential figures in modern Indian politics, 00:00:19.800 --> 00:00:22.719 Lalu Prasad Yadav. Consequential is the word. 00:00:22.960 --> 00:00:26.019 Born in 1948, his career isn't just a biography, 00:00:26.199 --> 00:00:28.899 it's... It's like a living textbook on the radical, 00:00:29.059 --> 00:00:31.239 social and political transformation of Bihar 00:00:31.239 --> 00:00:33.340 over the last, what, three decades. At least. 00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:36.159 And we're grappling with two completely contradictory 00:00:36.159 --> 00:00:38.320 histories here. Right. On the one hand, you have 00:00:38.320 --> 00:00:40.740 the revolutionary populist, the man championed 00:00:40.740 --> 00:00:44.009 as the Messiah backwards. And on the other. The 00:00:44.009 --> 00:00:46.689 politician whose career just became this chronicle 00:00:46.689 --> 00:00:49.630 of sophisticated, decades -long corruption. Exactly. 00:00:49.810 --> 00:00:52.329 Resulting in multiple convictions and ultimately 00:00:52.329 --> 00:00:55.210 his disqualification from office. So our mission 00:00:55.210 --> 00:00:58.189 today is to trace this dual narrative. We're 00:00:58.189 --> 00:01:00.189 going to follow his journey from these incredibly 00:01:00.189 --> 00:01:03.659 humble roots. Student politics, yes. all the 00:01:03.659 --> 00:01:06.560 way through his powerful tenure as chief minister 00:01:06.560 --> 00:01:08.879 of Bihar in the 90s. And then we'll analyze his 00:01:08.879 --> 00:01:11.920 unexpected and pretty controversial stint as 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:14.219 the union minister of railways. And finally, 00:01:14.219 --> 00:01:16.439 we have to dissect the corruption charges. I 00:01:16.439 --> 00:01:18.700 mean, specifically the fodder scam and the land 00:01:18.700 --> 00:01:21.579 for jobs scam, because they just irrevocably 00:01:21.579 --> 00:01:24.079 shaped his legacy. OK, let's unpack this, because 00:01:24.079 --> 00:01:26.219 to understand the political force she became. 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:28.719 You really have to start with that origin story. 00:01:28.920 --> 00:01:31.519 It's what defined his appeal. It's the absolute 00:01:31.519 --> 00:01:33.620 foundation of his entire political identity. 00:01:33.939 --> 00:01:37.459 He was born on June 11th, 1948, in a village 00:01:37.459 --> 00:01:40.459 called Fulwaria in Bihar. And we're talking about 00:01:40.459 --> 00:01:42.439 a very modest background here. Oh, absolutely. 00:01:42.719 --> 00:01:46.500 He was the fifth of six sons. And this poverty, 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:49.159 this closeness to the lower strata of society, 00:01:49.480 --> 00:01:51.540 was something he never shed. In fact, he kind 00:01:51.540 --> 00:01:54.060 of... He weaponized it. You see that immediately, 00:01:54.280 --> 00:01:56.200 right? When he moves to the capital city, Patna. 00:01:56.340 --> 00:01:58.420 You do. He went there to live with his older 00:01:58.420 --> 00:02:00.579 brother, Mukund Rai, who worked as a peon. A 00:02:00.579 --> 00:02:02.819 peon. So a low -ranking administrative assistant. 00:02:03.359 --> 00:02:06.180 Exactly. At the Bihar Veterinary College. And 00:02:06.180 --> 00:02:09.189 that detail is so critical. This was not some 00:02:09.189 --> 00:02:11.770 privileged entry into the state capitol. This 00:02:11.770 --> 00:02:15.530 was a move of necessity, of family support, but 00:02:15.530 --> 00:02:18.409 within the absolute lowest rungs of government 00:02:18.409 --> 00:02:20.590 service. And Lalu himself worked there eventually, 00:02:20.729 --> 00:02:22.909 didn't he? He did. After he got his B .A., he 00:02:22.909 --> 00:02:25.490 worked as a clerk at that same veterinary college. 00:02:25.650 --> 00:02:27.830 So he was literally starting his political life 00:02:27.830 --> 00:02:30.129 from the quarters of a lower grade government 00:02:30.129 --> 00:02:33.189 employee. So he could credibly claim to be one 00:02:33.189 --> 00:02:35.650 of them, not an elite, not a landlord. But a 00:02:35.650 --> 00:02:38.409 son of the soil. Precisely. Now, his academic 00:02:38.409 --> 00:02:40.550 path, that was the traditional route for upward 00:02:40.550 --> 00:02:43.349 mobility. But there were some early signs of, 00:02:43.449 --> 00:02:48.159 let's say, controversy. Yes, even then. He matriculated 00:02:48.159 --> 00:02:51.639 in 1965 from Miller High School in Patna. And 00:02:51.639 --> 00:02:53.719 interestingly, decades later, when he was in 00:02:53.719 --> 00:02:56.439 power, he renamed that very school. Of course 00:02:56.439 --> 00:02:58.300 he did. In honor of a local freedom fighter. 00:02:58.419 --> 00:03:01.319 It shows that early pattern of rewriting history 00:03:01.319 --> 00:03:04.139 a bit, institutionalizing his own political narrative. 00:03:04.419 --> 00:03:06.340 And his early political training, it wasn't just 00:03:06.340 --> 00:03:08.699 handed to him. He came up through student activism. 00:03:09.180 --> 00:03:13.340 And it was rigorous. From 1970 to 71, he was 00:03:13.340 --> 00:03:14.860 the general secretary of the Patna University 00:03:14.860 --> 00:03:17.139 Students' Union, and then he became its president 00:03:17.139 --> 00:03:19.979 in 73. And student union politics in Bihar back 00:03:19.979 --> 00:03:22.259 then was, I mean, there was a direct feeder system 00:03:22.259 --> 00:03:25.060 for state politics. It was intense. Incredibly 00:03:25.060 --> 00:03:27.879 competitive. He also earned his LLB, his law 00:03:27.879 --> 00:03:31.099 degree, in 1976. But let's pause on the academic 00:03:31.099 --> 00:03:33.400 history, because there's a small but telling 00:03:33.400 --> 00:03:35.740 little detail in there. It's about his intermediate 00:03:35.740 --> 00:03:39.219 arts degree, his IA degree. His later affidavit 00:03:39.219 --> 00:03:41.599 for the Luxaba said he got this from BN College 00:03:41.599 --> 00:03:46.939 in 1966. What? Well, two things. One, BN College 00:03:46.939 --> 00:03:50.020 didn't actually offer that specific course. And 00:03:50.020 --> 00:03:52.460 two, the program usually took two years to complete. 00:03:52.659 --> 00:03:54.680 He claimed to have finished it in the same year 00:03:54.680 --> 00:03:56.900 he enrolled. So it's a minor point, but it shows 00:03:56.900 --> 00:04:00.580 an early tendency to maybe craft a record that... 00:04:00.830 --> 00:04:03.030 doesn't quite align with reality? It's a pattern, 00:04:03.090 --> 00:04:05.250 yes, an inclination. Okay, here's where it gets 00:04:05.250 --> 00:04:07.550 really interesting for me. His leap into the 00:04:07.550 --> 00:04:10.490 national consciousness. The Bihar Movement, 1974. 00:04:10.870 --> 00:04:14.430 He aligned himself with this monumental sociopolitical 00:04:14.430 --> 00:04:17.430 movement led by Jayaprakash Narayan. The JP Movement. 00:04:17.709 --> 00:04:19.970 And being associated with the JP Movement was 00:04:19.970 --> 00:04:23.490 basically a national launchpad. It meant he wasn't 00:04:23.490 --> 00:04:26.170 just some local student leader anymore. No, he 00:04:26.170 --> 00:04:28.949 was an anti -establishment voice demanding systemic 00:04:28.949 --> 00:04:32.279 change. And that momentum carried him directly 00:04:32.279 --> 00:04:35.319 into the halls of power. Just three years later, 00:04:35.399 --> 00:04:38.839 in 1977, he was elected to the Lok Sabha. From 00:04:38.839 --> 00:04:41.939 Chapra for the Janata Alliance, he was only 29 00:04:41.939 --> 00:04:44.759 years old. Think about that. The clerk's brother 00:04:44.759 --> 00:04:47.000 from a tiny village is suddenly one of the youngest 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:48.959 members of parliament in the entire country. 00:04:49.180 --> 00:04:51.779 But that initial success didn't last long. It 00:04:51.779 --> 00:04:54.779 was brief, yes. The Janata Party government fractured, 00:04:54.819 --> 00:04:58.180 and he lost his re -election bid in 1980. But... 00:04:58.329 --> 00:05:00.290 You know, this forced him to retreat and focus 00:05:00.290 --> 00:05:02.670 locally, which in the end actually strengthened 00:05:02.670 --> 00:05:05.029 his base. Right. He served two terms as an MLA 00:05:05.029 --> 00:05:07.829 from Sonpour. Between 1980 and 1989. This is 00:05:07.829 --> 00:05:10.230 where he really learned to be a political strategist. 00:05:10.310 --> 00:05:12.430 He became the leader of the opposition in the 00:05:12.430 --> 00:05:15.769 Bihar Legislative Assembly by 1989. So the stage 00:05:15.769 --> 00:05:18.339 is now set for him to capture state power. Completely. 00:05:18.459 --> 00:05:22.199 And by 1990, he recognized and just capitalized 00:05:22.199 --> 00:05:25.980 on this profound demographic truth, this political 00:05:25.980 --> 00:05:28.399 vacuum among the lower castes. He positioned 00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:31.660 himself as the only genuine leader of the Yadavs. 00:05:31.660 --> 00:05:34.100 A critical voting bloc, over 14 percent of the 00:05:34.100 --> 00:05:36.980 state. He became their leader and the leader 00:05:36.980 --> 00:05:39.639 of other marginalized lower castes. And it wasn't 00:05:39.639 --> 00:05:41.680 just about consolidating the Yadav vote. There 00:05:41.680 --> 00:05:44.139 was another critical piece to this puzzle, a 00:05:44.139 --> 00:05:49.310 tragic one. The 1989 Vagalpur violence. The Congress 00:05:49.310 --> 00:05:51.769 government, which had traditionally enjoyed overwhelming 00:05:51.769 --> 00:05:55.050 Muslim support, was seen as having utterly failed 00:05:55.050 --> 00:05:57.029 to protect the Muslim community during these 00:05:57.029 --> 00:06:00.110 horrific communal clashes. The result was a catastrophic 00:06:00.110 --> 00:06:02.730 loss of life and a profound loss of trust. And 00:06:02.730 --> 00:06:04.829 the established Muslim vote bank, which had relied 00:06:04.829 --> 00:06:07.980 on Congress for decades, it just... it shifted 00:06:07.980 --> 00:06:10.500 its entire allegiance to Lalu. He was seen as 00:06:10.500 --> 00:06:11.819 the one who could actually deliver security. 00:06:12.139 --> 00:06:14.500 And challenged the established upper caste dominated 00:06:14.500 --> 00:06:17.639 political order. So this new coalition, consolidated 00:06:17.639 --> 00:06:20.540 Yadav and OBC power, combined with this decisive 00:06:20.540 --> 00:06:22.959 Muslim mandate, it was an electoral juggernaut. 00:06:23.040 --> 00:06:25.560 It was. So when the Janata Dal won the Bihar 00:06:25.560 --> 00:06:28.600 Assembly elections in 1990, there was this major 00:06:28.600 --> 00:06:31.689 internal deadlock. over who would be chief minister. 00:06:31.910 --> 00:06:33.610 Because the national heavyweights were backing 00:06:33.610 --> 00:06:36.889 different candidates. Exactly. VP Singh and Chandrashekhar. 00:06:37.069 --> 00:06:40.089 So Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal trying to break 00:06:40.089 --> 00:06:43.089 the deadlock. He nominated Lalu. He won the internal 00:06:43.089 --> 00:06:45.709 poll. It was a strategic victory, not a consensus 00:06:45.709 --> 00:06:49.149 choice. And his very first major act as chief 00:06:49.149 --> 00:06:52.290 minister was defining. Oh, absolutely. In September 00:06:52.290 --> 00:06:55.850 1990, the Ramrath Yatra, led by L .K. Advani, 00:06:55.990 --> 00:06:59.310 was making its way toward Ayodhya. A hugely controversial 00:06:59.310 --> 00:07:01.889 procession. Immensely. And Lallu, recognizing 00:07:01.889 --> 00:07:04.310 the political moment and the promises he'd made 00:07:04.310 --> 00:07:07.389 to his new Muslim voters, ordered Advani's arrest 00:07:07.389 --> 00:07:10.990 at Samastapur. That move was politically explosive. 00:07:11.389 --> 00:07:13.670 It was transformative. It cemented his credentials 00:07:13.670 --> 00:07:16.129 as a secular defender of the marginalized. It 00:07:16.129 --> 00:07:18.110 signaled that he would directly confront the 00:07:18.110 --> 00:07:20.329 rising tide of Hindu nationalism no matter the 00:07:20.329 --> 00:07:22.490 cost. He became a national figure overnight. 00:07:22.970 --> 00:07:25.410 But his tenure was, I guess, doomed by internal 00:07:25.410 --> 00:07:27.889 politics and external scrutiny? Eventually, yes. 00:07:28.529 --> 00:07:32.290 By 1997, the mounting allegations from the fodder 00:07:32.290 --> 00:07:34.970 scam triggered a leadership revolt within the 00:07:34.970 --> 00:07:37.709 Janata Dal. So what did he do? His response was 00:07:37.709 --> 00:07:40.310 decisive. He broke away, formed his own party, 00:07:40.449 --> 00:07:44.339 the Rashtriya Janata Dal, or RJD. And in a move 00:07:44.339 --> 00:07:46.920 that screamed dynastic politics, he appointed 00:07:46.920 --> 00:07:49.959 his wife, Rabri Devi, as the new chief minister. 00:07:50.139 --> 00:07:52.899 He did, which takes us directly into part two. 00:07:53.300 --> 00:07:56.019 The years where he built this enduring identity 00:07:56.019 --> 00:07:59.620 as the messiah backwards, using radical populism 00:07:59.620 --> 00:08:02.079 to reshape society, even if it meant sacrificing 00:08:02.079 --> 00:08:04.420 governance. For his opponents, he was just a 00:08:04.420 --> 00:08:06.860 caricature, right? This chaotic figure presiding 00:08:06.860 --> 00:08:09.079 over total administrative collapse. Absolutely. 00:08:09.660 --> 00:08:12.259 But for the lower castes and Dalits, he was nothing 00:08:12.259 --> 00:08:14.620 short of a political savior. His identity politics 00:08:14.620 --> 00:08:16.620 worked because he didn't just talk about poverty. 00:08:16.759 --> 00:08:19.839 He lived and embodied that rural, non -elite 00:08:19.839 --> 00:08:21.839 identity. We've seen studies that illustrate 00:08:21.839 --> 00:08:24.339 this so perfectly. He was criticized relentlessly 00:08:24.339 --> 00:08:26.199 for neglecting development roads, electricity, 00:08:26.519 --> 00:08:28.800 schools. But a detailed study of the Musar community, 00:08:29.180 --> 00:08:31.639 one of the prioress social groups in Bihar, showed 00:08:31.639 --> 00:08:33.779 their overwhelming support for him persisted. 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:35.399 And it wasn't because of new infrastructure. 00:08:35.679 --> 00:08:38.519 Not at all. It was because he returned them their 00:08:38.519 --> 00:08:42.190 Ijat. Their honor. This concept of EJOT is so 00:08:42.190 --> 00:08:45.190 foundational to understanding his appeal. It 00:08:45.190 --> 00:08:47.830 really is. For generations, these communities 00:08:47.830 --> 00:08:49.750 weren't just economically marginalized. They 00:08:49.750 --> 00:08:52.870 were socially subjugated. They were, you know, 00:08:52.870 --> 00:08:55.350 prohibited from casting their own votes, forced 00:08:55.350 --> 00:08:58.009 to work in semi -feudal conditions, treated with 00:08:58.009 --> 00:09:01.070 absolute contempt by upper caste landlords. So 00:09:01.070 --> 00:09:03.190 when they say he returned their honor, what they 00:09:03.190 --> 00:09:05.269 mean is that for the first time they felt like 00:09:05.269 --> 00:09:07.850 political equals. They could walk into a polling 00:09:07.850 --> 00:09:10.549 booth and cast a vote for who they wanted without 00:09:10.549 --> 00:09:14.230 fear of immediate reprisal. That sense of dignity, 00:09:14.470 --> 00:09:16.830 of recognition after centuries of oppression, 00:09:17.110 --> 00:09:19.929 that often trumped the immediate need for a new 00:09:19.929 --> 00:09:22.250 road. And Lalu reinforced this through symbolic 00:09:22.250 --> 00:09:25.210 policies. He did. He introduced charvaha schools. 00:09:25.529 --> 00:09:28.750 The term charvaha means a herder or a cowherd. 00:09:28.990 --> 00:09:31.049 So these schools were designed specifically for 00:09:31.049 --> 00:09:32.870 the children of the rural poor. To give them 00:09:32.870 --> 00:09:36.570 skilled vocational education. Recognizing their 00:09:36.570 --> 00:09:38.830 traditional occupations, but also offering a 00:09:38.830 --> 00:09:41.830 pathway out. He also made it a legally cognizable 00:09:41.830 --> 00:09:44.490 offense for bureaucrats to ignore reservation 00:09:44.490 --> 00:09:46.950 rules for marginalized communities. And the political 00:09:46.950 --> 00:09:49.490 landscape itself was literally inverted during 00:09:49.490 --> 00:09:53.049 his rule. Profoundly. By the 1995 assembly elections, 00:09:53.370 --> 00:09:56.820 legislators from other backward classes. OBCs, 00:09:56.860 --> 00:10:01.259 made up nearly half the assembly, 49 .69%. And 00:10:01.259 --> 00:10:03.519 the upper caste legislators. Their dominance 00:10:03.519 --> 00:10:07.700 just collapsed. It fell to a mere 17 .28%. This 00:10:07.700 --> 00:10:09.860 wasn't just a political victory. It was a demographic 00:10:09.860 --> 00:10:12.600 revolution at the ballot box. But that revolution 00:10:12.600 --> 00:10:15.139 set up an inevitable confrontation. The political 00:10:15.139 --> 00:10:17.919 executive is now dominated by the lower castes. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:20.980 But the state institutions, the judiciary, the 00:10:20.980 --> 00:10:23.100 police, and especially the bureaucracy remain 00:10:23.100 --> 00:10:26.240 these. entrenched strongholds of the upper castes. 00:10:26.279 --> 00:10:28.059 And this is where we get that infamous slogan 00:10:28.059 --> 00:10:32.639 associated with his time in power. Yes. And it 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:35.080 wasn't just a chant. It was, to put it bluntly, 00:10:35.139 --> 00:10:37.259 a political declaration of war against the old 00:10:37.259 --> 00:10:39.159 guard. Let's break down that acronym for our 00:10:39.159 --> 00:10:42.200 listeners. It stands for the four dominant upper 00:10:42.200 --> 00:10:51.039 castes in Bihar. And Safa Cairo means? Clean 00:10:51.039 --> 00:10:55.129 up or remove. It was an unapologetic confrontational 00:10:55.129 --> 00:10:57.990 challenge to the existing power structure. So 00:10:57.990 --> 00:11:00.730 how did the bureaucracy respond? They tried to 00:11:00.730 --> 00:11:03.870 obstruct his OBC empowerment policies. They used 00:11:03.870 --> 00:11:07.509 institutional mechanisms, filing delays, defying 00:11:07.509 --> 00:11:10.269 executive orders, leveraging the courts to maintain 00:11:10.269 --> 00:11:13.029 the status quo. They saw his rise as the destruction 00:11:13.029 --> 00:11:15.710 of governance. And he saw their resistance as 00:11:15.710 --> 00:11:18.990 the final bastion of uppercast oppression. So 00:11:18.990 --> 00:11:21.210 his response was a calculated strategy to just 00:11:21.210 --> 00:11:24.159 dismantle those bastions. That's right. His administration 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:26.519 frequently transferred officers, especially in 00:11:26.519 --> 00:11:28.779 key positions. They changed recruitment rules 00:11:28.779 --> 00:11:31.639 to heavily favor the backward castes and systematically 00:11:31.639 --> 00:11:34.240 placed officials from lower castes into powerful 00:11:34.240 --> 00:11:36.620 roles like district magistrate or chief secretary. 00:11:36.820 --> 00:11:39.659 There's that huge symbolic shift in 1983. The 00:11:39.659 --> 00:11:41.919 massive one. He removed both the Brahmin director 00:11:41.919 --> 00:11:44.480 general of police and the chief secretary, installing 00:11:44.480 --> 00:11:46.740 lower caste officers in their place. This leads 00:11:46.740 --> 00:11:49.120 to a really fascinating academic observation 00:11:49.120 --> 00:11:52.759 from Jeffrey Witzow. He argued that the RJD's 00:11:52.759 --> 00:12:00.539 policy Because those institutions were historically 00:12:00.539 --> 00:12:03.460 controlled by the upper castes. So wait, you're 00:12:03.460 --> 00:12:06.080 suggesting the administrative chaos, the dysfunction 00:12:06.080 --> 00:12:09.240 that critics always point to. It wasn't just 00:12:09.240 --> 00:12:13.039 incompetence. It was, in part, a strategic byproduct 00:12:13.039 --> 00:12:16.200 of achieving social justice. One could argue 00:12:16.200 --> 00:12:19.340 that, yes, for the RJD, the institutional structure 00:12:19.340 --> 00:12:22.379 itself was seen as the tool of oppression. If 00:12:22.379 --> 00:12:24.460 those institutions were weakened, the old guard 00:12:24.460 --> 00:12:26.720 lost its power to enforce social and economic 00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:29.299 hierarchies. He also empowered local strongmen, 00:12:29.440 --> 00:12:31.659 the bahubalists. Men with muscle and political 00:12:31.659 --> 00:12:34.059 influence, often with criminal records. He brought 00:12:34.059 --> 00:12:36.340 them into the janata doll. He even occasionally 00:12:36.340 --> 00:12:38.320 dropped cases against Naxalite leaders who were 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:40.600 fighting against the landlord class. Which created 00:12:40.600 --> 00:12:43.120 this incredibly volatile political environment. 00:12:43.299 --> 00:12:46.090 Social justice was being achieved. through extra 00:12:46.090 --> 00:12:48.710 institutional, sometimes even illegal means. 00:12:48.889 --> 00:12:51.009 It fundamentally transformed the nature of governance 00:12:51.009 --> 00:12:53.190 in the state. Let's talk about the incredible 00:12:53.190 --> 00:12:56.700 symbolism he used. He rejected every convention 00:12:56.700 --> 00:12:59.799 of an elite chief minister. His whole image was 00:12:59.799 --> 00:13:02.139 intertwined with the rural, non -elite experience. 00:13:02.740 --> 00:13:05.580 His self -identification as the son of a poor 00:13:05.580 --> 00:13:08.820 goala, a herder, wasn't just a phrase. It was 00:13:08.820 --> 00:13:11.659 a performance. The famous Krita Fa Holi, the 00:13:11.659 --> 00:13:14.159 clock -tearing holi festival. A spectacle of 00:13:14.159 --> 00:13:17.539 raw, untamed camaraderie. Participants would 00:13:17.539 --> 00:13:20.220 shout familiar, abusive calls at him, like, where 00:13:20.220 --> 00:13:22.960 is the bloody lalu hiding? And he would embrace 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:25.720 it, responding in kind. That kind of intentional 00:13:25.720 --> 00:13:29.860 vulgarity, that nonconformity, it instantly sets 00:13:29.860 --> 00:13:32.019 him apart from the sophisticated English -speaking 00:13:32.019 --> 00:13:35.240 politicians in Delhi. It tells his base, I am 00:13:35.240 --> 00:13:38.149 one of you. I reject their norms. His political 00:13:38.149 --> 00:13:40.450 rallies, always called raya, were themselves 00:13:40.450 --> 00:13:42.929 these choreographed symbols of plebeian masculinity. 00:13:43.289 --> 00:13:45.429 And he encouraged attendees to carry the lathi. 00:13:45.629 --> 00:13:48.210 The robust stick used by herders, the lathi became 00:13:48.210 --> 00:13:51.350 a symbol of rural strength, of discipline, and 00:13:51.350 --> 00:13:53.409 a quiet threat of resistance. He used the symbolism 00:13:53.409 --> 00:13:55.669 masterfully against the rise of Hindu nationalism. 00:13:55.850 --> 00:13:59.149 In 2003, the VHP was distributing trishuls. The 00:13:59.149 --> 00:14:02.029 three -pronged spear, a militant religious symbol. 00:14:02.529 --> 00:14:05.590 Zolalu organized a massive rally at Gandhi Maidan. 00:14:05.850 --> 00:14:08.340 And what was his message? He directly challenged 00:14:08.340 --> 00:14:10.580 them. He asked his rural supporters to bring 00:14:10.580 --> 00:14:13.059 their Laithis to the rally. He declared that 00:14:13.059 --> 00:14:15.220 the Laithi, the weapon of the weak, would destroy 00:14:15.220 --> 00:14:18.559 the tritial of hatred. He framed it as a class 00:14:18.559 --> 00:14:22.740 struggle. The poor farmers stick versus the militant 00:14:22.740 --> 00:14:25.200 elites trident. And the atmosphere at these rallies 00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:28.759 was something else. Take the huge 1996 Garib 00:14:28.759 --> 00:14:31.360 rally, the rally of the poor. The logistics were 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:33.080 staggering. They provided free transportation 00:14:33.080 --> 00:14:35.539 for attendees to get to Patna. And eyewitness 00:14:35.539 --> 00:14:37.919 accounts describe this intentional appeal to 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:41.120 non -urban tastes. Exactly. Near the railway 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:43.419 station, there was organized entertainment, including 00:14:43.419 --> 00:14:46.179 a Randy Kanach, a dance performance by a professional 00:14:46.179 --> 00:14:48.679 female dancer, arranged specifically for the 00:14:48.679 --> 00:14:51.559 rural attendees. It just underscores his total 00:14:51.559 --> 00:14:54.740 refusal to cater to polite, upper -class sensibilities. 00:14:54.940 --> 00:14:56.500 And this commitment to the grassroots wasn't 00:14:56.500 --> 00:14:58.840 just theater. It extended to actual political 00:14:58.840 --> 00:15:01.480 appointments. We see examples like the election 00:15:01.480 --> 00:15:05.200 of Munirajak. a Dalit woman from the Dobi, or 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:07.779 washerman, caste, to the Legislative Council 00:15:07.779 --> 00:15:12.080 in 2022. Or Rembrikish Sada, the RJD MLA who 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:15.100 claimed to be the poorest MLA in Bihar. He lived 00:15:15.100 --> 00:15:17.399 in subsidized housing, had very little cash. 00:15:17.639 --> 00:15:20.100 He claimed Lalu's family actually provided the 00:15:20.100 --> 00:15:23.360 funds for him to contest the election. Elevating 00:15:23.360 --> 00:15:26.639 the genuinely impoverished, served as this constant 00:15:26.639 --> 00:15:29.059 reminder to his voters that he was turning the 00:15:29.059 --> 00:15:31.419 traditional social hierarchy upside down. And 00:15:31.419 --> 00:15:33.740 this had a real tangible impact on elections. 00:15:34.039 --> 00:15:37.419 A profound one. Lalu's rule broke the traditional 00:15:37.419 --> 00:15:39.879 patron -client voting relationship, where upper 00:15:39.879 --> 00:15:42.139 -caste landlords just told Dalits how to vote. 00:15:42.379 --> 00:15:44.419 He moved polling stations away from upper caste 00:15:44.419 --> 00:15:46.879 villages. And into lower caste localities. He 00:15:46.879 --> 00:15:48.919 ensured that Dalits could exercise their franchise 00:15:48.919 --> 00:15:51.419 without physical coercion. So they may not have 00:15:51.419 --> 00:15:53.379 gotten a new road right away, but they gained 00:15:53.379 --> 00:15:56.120 political freedom and dignity. That dignity that 00:15:56.120 --> 00:15:58.779 Ijat formed an unbreakable bond of loyalty to 00:15:58.779 --> 00:16:00.799 him. A loyalty that allowed him to weather a 00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:03.279 lot of storms, including the early stages of 00:16:03.279 --> 00:16:06.090 the fodder scam. It did. Now we have to transition 00:16:06.090 --> 00:16:08.570 from the state -level social revolutionary to 00:16:08.570 --> 00:16:11.330 the national stage. After transforming Bihar, 00:16:11.529 --> 00:16:14.149 Lalu Prasad Yadav took the reins of the world's 00:16:14.149 --> 00:16:17.309 fourth largest railway network. Following the 00:16:17.309 --> 00:16:20.250 2004 general election, where he won both the 00:16:20.250 --> 00:16:23.230 CHAPRA and METAPURTA seats, he became the Minister 00:16:23.230 --> 00:16:26.289 of Railways in the new UPA government, a crucial 00:16:26.289 --> 00:16:29.750 portfolio he held until 2009. And his tenure 00:16:29.750 --> 00:16:32.409 was immediately marked by his trademark populist 00:16:32.409 --> 00:16:35.740 initiatives. He froze passenger fares. Which 00:16:35.740 --> 00:16:39.000 in India, where millions of poor and middle class 00:16:39.000 --> 00:16:41.600 citizens rely on the railways, was a massive 00:16:41.600 --> 00:16:44.220 political win. He also focused on improving conditions 00:16:44.220 --> 00:16:46.899 for the poorest passengers. He put cushion seats 00:16:46.899 --> 00:16:49.460 in all the unreserved compartments. A small thing 00:16:49.460 --> 00:16:52.129 that meant a lot. prioritizing comfort and dignity 00:16:52.129 --> 00:16:54.049 for the common traveler. And then there was the 00:16:54.049 --> 00:16:56.730 famous Kulhar initiative. He banned plastic cups 00:16:56.730 --> 00:16:59.429 for tea at railway stations and mandated their 00:16:59.429 --> 00:17:01.929 replacement with traditional biodegradable pottery 00:17:01.929 --> 00:17:04.670 cups or Kulhars. The intention was genuinely 00:17:04.670 --> 00:17:07.289 populist to create huge employment for rural 00:17:07.289 --> 00:17:10.230 potters. But it failed. It failed miserably. 00:17:10.589 --> 00:17:13.150 Logistical nightmares, sanitation issues, higher 00:17:13.150 --> 00:17:16.549 costs. It was a beautiful idea rooted in rural 00:17:16.549 --> 00:17:19.230 nostalgia that just couldn't survive the realities 00:17:19.230 --> 00:17:22.089 of high volume railway logistics. But the defining 00:17:22.089 --> 00:17:24.430 narrative of his time in Delhi was the spectacular 00:17:24.430 --> 00:17:27.509 turnaround story of the Indian railways. This 00:17:27.509 --> 00:17:30.089 was huge. When he took charge, the organization 00:17:30.089 --> 00:17:33.509 was losing money. By the time he left, he claimed 00:17:33.509 --> 00:17:37.420 a cumulative profit. or a surplus of a staggering 00:17:37.420 --> 00:17:42.279 38 ,000 crore. That's about $4 .5 billion. This 00:17:42.279 --> 00:17:45.240 story captured the global imagination. Here's 00:17:45.240 --> 00:17:47.680 this rustic politician who barely speaks English, 00:17:47.859 --> 00:17:50.559 achieving what elite bureaucrats couldn't. He 00:17:50.559 --> 00:17:52.660 got invitations from eight Ivy League schools, 00:17:52.839 --> 00:17:54.980 including Harvard and Wharton, to lecture on 00:17:54.980 --> 00:17:57.900 management. He would address PAX halls, often 00:17:57.900 --> 00:18:00.140 delivering his talks entirely in Hindi. He became 00:18:00.140 --> 00:18:02.619 this unlikely business guru. The turnaround was 00:18:02.619 --> 00:18:04.500 even made a case study by the Indian Institute. 00:18:04.559 --> 00:18:07.680 The image was transformed. He wasn't just a regional 00:18:07.680 --> 00:18:10.019 populist. He was a global financial wizard. But 00:18:10.019 --> 00:18:11.819 the whole narrative was challenged as soon as 00:18:11.819 --> 00:18:15.079 he left office. Immediately and decisively. His 00:18:15.079 --> 00:18:18.160 successor and opposition parties alleged that 00:18:18.160 --> 00:18:20.539 the surplus was purely the result of creative, 00:18:20.759 --> 00:18:23.380 politically motivated financial statement manipulation. 00:18:23.960 --> 00:18:25.940 So how did they do it? How did they manipulate 00:18:25.940 --> 00:18:29.039 the numbers? It all came down to accounting definitions. 00:18:29.400 --> 00:18:32.599 The 2011 Comptroller and Auditor General, the 00:18:32.599 --> 00:18:36.230 CAG, report, it endorsed the skeptical view. 00:18:36.529 --> 00:18:38.750 It found that the overall performance of the 00:18:38.750 --> 00:18:40.789 railways, measured by traditional operational 00:18:40.789 --> 00:18:43.890 efficiency, had actually declined marginally 00:18:43.890 --> 00:18:46.109 during the later years of his tenure. So the 00:18:46.109 --> 00:18:48.589 trains weren't running better. The profit must 00:18:48.589 --> 00:18:50.670 have come from just moving numbers around. Exactly. 00:18:50.829 --> 00:18:53.130 The key finding was that the reported surplus 00:18:53.130 --> 00:18:55.789 was calculated by redefining what a profit was. 00:18:56.250 --> 00:18:58.549 His ministry included two categories that were 00:18:58.549 --> 00:19:00.750 previously excluded from the net surplus figures. 00:19:01.009 --> 00:19:03.329 Which were? First, cash and investable reserves. 00:19:03.609 --> 00:19:05.970 And second, money that was legally set aside 00:19:05.970 --> 00:19:08.490 for depreciation and capital expenditure. That's 00:19:08.490 --> 00:19:10.470 a huge difference. You're including money that's 00:19:10.470 --> 00:19:12.789 already earmarked for future expenses or is just 00:19:12.789 --> 00:19:15.490 sitting in reserve and calling it profit. It 00:19:15.490 --> 00:19:17.509 was brilliant political theater, managing the 00:19:17.509 --> 00:19:20.509 perception of success. But the underlying institutional 00:19:20.509 --> 00:19:23.269 health of the railways hadn't experienced any 00:19:23.269 --> 00:19:26.109 miracle. It was an accounting illusion. designed 00:19:26.109 --> 00:19:28.630 to secure a powerful political narrative. So 00:19:28.630 --> 00:19:30.849 he used his time in the national spotlight to 00:19:30.849 --> 00:19:33.369 refine his own image, to counter the criticism 00:19:33.369 --> 00:19:36.630 he faced back in Bihar. But that reputation was 00:19:36.630 --> 00:19:39.349 built on sand. It was. And that manufactured 00:19:39.349 --> 00:19:42.029 success brings us to the inevitable part four, 00:19:42.210 --> 00:19:45.730 the pervasive shadow of corruption and the lengthy 00:19:45.730 --> 00:19:48.329 judicial process that ultimately ended his political 00:19:48.329 --> 00:19:51.059 career. The extent of the allegations is vast, 00:19:51.220 --> 00:19:53.759 but the two main scandals, the fodder scam and 00:19:53.759 --> 00:19:56.299 the land for jobs scam, are the focus. And Lalu 00:19:56.299 --> 00:19:59.019 holds the dubious distinction of being one of 00:19:59.019 --> 00:20:01.160 the first major politicians to lose his parliamentary 00:20:01.160 --> 00:20:04.079 seat immediately upon conviction. Let's start 00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:06.099 with the fodder scam. It started dominating Bihar 00:20:06.099 --> 00:20:09.640 politics back in 1996. What was the central mechanism 00:20:09.640 --> 00:20:12.890 of this fraud? The fodder scam involved the systematic 00:20:12.890 --> 00:20:15.849 fraudulent withdrawal of colossal sums, about 00:20:15.849 --> 00:20:19.910 $4 .50 billion, over $111 million from the animal 00:20:19.910 --> 00:20:22.029 husbandry department. And how did it work? The 00:20:22.029 --> 00:20:25.130 money was supposedly withdrawn to buy food, medicine, 00:20:25.230 --> 00:20:27.740 and equipment for cattle. But the transactions 00:20:27.740 --> 00:20:30.980 were purely paper -based, non -existent companies 00:20:30.980 --> 00:20:33.940 claiming to supply non -existent goods. A completely 00:20:33.940 --> 00:20:37.299 fake supply chain with actual public funds just 00:20:37.299 --> 00:20:39.539 being siphoned off. And it was deeply embedded 00:20:39.539 --> 00:20:41.900 in the state machinery. The initial revelation 00:20:41.900 --> 00:20:45.019 came after a raid on the Chaibasa treasury exposed 00:20:45.019 --> 00:20:48.680 these massive unexplained financial flows. Lalu 00:20:48.680 --> 00:20:51.140 ordered a state inquiry. But a public interest 00:20:51.140 --> 00:20:53.740 litigation forced the Bihar High Court to intervene. 00:20:54.000 --> 00:20:56.279 Right. They recognized the scope of the fraud 00:20:56.279 --> 00:20:58.839 was beyond the state's capacity to investigate 00:20:58.839 --> 00:21:01.599 itself. And their decision to hand the investigation 00:21:01.599 --> 00:21:04.160 to the Central Bureau of Investigation, the CBI, 00:21:04.480 --> 00:21:06.859 was the beginning of the end for his time as 00:21:06.859 --> 00:21:09.400 chief minister. Because the CBI filed a charge 00:21:09.400 --> 00:21:12.539 sheet in 1997 naming him as a primary accused. 00:21:12.660 --> 00:21:15.640 Which forced his resignation and led to the controversial 00:21:15.640 --> 00:21:18.690 appointment of his wife, Robry Devi. The cases 00:21:18.690 --> 00:21:20.890 were later transferred to Rangy in the new state 00:21:20.890 --> 00:21:23.569 of Tarkand. We need to convey the sheer magnitude 00:21:23.569 --> 00:21:25.130 of this. We're not talking about one conviction. 00:21:25.269 --> 00:21:27.470 We're talking about a pattern of institutional 00:21:27.470 --> 00:21:30.750 theft across different treasuries, proven in 00:21:30.750 --> 00:21:33.470 multiple courts. That's the key takeaway, the 00:21:33.470 --> 00:21:36.130 pattern. He's been convicted in five distinct 00:21:36.130 --> 00:21:39.250 cases within this fodder scam web. The first 00:21:39.250 --> 00:21:41.829 major conviction came in 2013 from the Chaibasa 00:21:41.829 --> 00:21:44.789 Treasury. He got five years in jail. And that 00:21:44.789 --> 00:21:47.049 2013 conviction was the one that immediately 00:21:47.049 --> 00:21:49.410 got him disqualified as a sitting MP for six 00:21:49.410 --> 00:21:52.230 years. It ended his ability to hold elected office. 00:21:52.450 --> 00:21:54.390 Correct. And the convictions just kept piling 00:21:54.390 --> 00:21:57.190 up. In 2017, the second case from the Deogar 00:21:57.190 --> 00:22:00.190 Treasury. In 2018, the fourth case from the Dumka 00:22:00.190 --> 00:22:02.329 Treasury, where he got two separate consecutive 00:22:02.329 --> 00:22:05.190 seven -year sentences. Wow. Two separate sentences 00:22:05.190 --> 00:22:07.970 for one case. Under different acts, yes. The 00:22:07.970 --> 00:22:09.789 Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption 00:22:09.789 --> 00:22:11.849 Acts. It just highlights the severity of his 00:22:11.849 --> 00:22:14.299 culpability. And the final one, the fifth case, 00:22:14.440 --> 00:22:18.039 came in 2022. In 2022, he was found guilty of 00:22:18.039 --> 00:22:22.019 illegal withdrawals of a massive 139 .35 crore 00:22:22.019 --> 00:22:24.359 from the Duranda Treasury, another five -year 00:22:24.359 --> 00:22:26.960 jail term. It shows that the institutional forces 00:22:26.960 --> 00:22:29.099 we discussed earlier, the upper caste, dominated 00:22:29.099 --> 00:22:32.160 judiciary and central agencies, were really the 00:22:32.160 --> 00:22:34.319 only things capable of overcoming his populist 00:22:34.319 --> 00:22:36.279 government. And despite all these sentences, 00:22:36.680 --> 00:22:40.119 he was granted bail in April 2021. On medical 00:22:40.119 --> 00:22:43.049 grounds, yes. But the legal reality is he remains 00:22:43.049 --> 00:22:45.750 disqualified from seeking or holding office for 00:22:45.750 --> 00:22:48.230 six years after his release. He's sidelined. 00:22:48.289 --> 00:22:50.730 OK, now let's pivot to the second major scandal, 00:22:50.950 --> 00:22:53.450 the land for job scam. This one is significant 00:22:53.450 --> 00:22:55.789 because it's from his time as union railway minister 00:22:55.789 --> 00:22:58.529 and directly involves his family. The core charge 00:22:58.529 --> 00:23:01.400 here is almost textbook corruption. Lalu and 00:23:01.400 --> 00:23:03.359 his family illegally acquired valuable prime 00:23:03.359 --> 00:23:06.319 real estate as a bribe, a quid pro quo, for corruptly 00:23:06.319 --> 00:23:08.180 awarding railway contracts during his tenure. 00:23:08.319 --> 00:23:10.420 And the mechanism was pretty sophisticated. Very. 00:23:10.539 --> 00:23:12.660 It moved beyond simple cash. They used shell 00:23:12.660 --> 00:23:14.440 companies to disguise the property transfers. 00:23:14.700 --> 00:23:16.640 For example, a company called Delight Marketing 00:23:16.640 --> 00:23:19.220 were involved, and it was later renamed Lara 00:23:19.220 --> 00:23:22.200 Properties. And what did this company facilitate? 00:23:22.680 --> 00:23:25.339 It facilitated the transfer of incredibly valuable 00:23:25.339 --> 00:23:27.980 land to his family. A property meant for the 00:23:27.980 --> 00:23:30.359 Saguna Moor Mall, worth tens of millions of dollars, 00:23:30.539 --> 00:23:33.500 was transferred to his wife, Rabri Devi, and 00:23:33.500 --> 00:23:37.240 his sons, Tejashwi and Tejpratap. So wealth channeled 00:23:37.240 --> 00:23:39.460 directly through corporate facades into the hands 00:23:39.460 --> 00:23:41.759 of the minister's family. A different shell company, 00:23:41.960 --> 00:23:45.440 AB Exports, was used to transfer a prime property 00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:48.579 worth about 40 crore to his children, Tejashwi 00:23:48.579 --> 00:23:50.859 Rajini and Chanda Singh. But here's the most 00:23:50.859 --> 00:23:53.319 damning detail, right? This is it. The property? 00:23:53.849 --> 00:23:56.289 worth tens of millions, was transferred for a 00:23:56.289 --> 00:23:59.630 laughably nominal price of just $400 ,000. $400 00:23:59.630 --> 00:24:02.289 ,000. That's, I mean, that price difference alone 00:24:02.289 --> 00:24:05.109 is shocking. It's undeniable proof of a massive 00:24:05.109 --> 00:24:07.769 bribe disguised as a sale. And the Enforcement 00:24:07.769 --> 00:24:10.190 Directorate, the ED, has since attached these 00:24:10.190 --> 00:24:12.289 properties trying to reclaim the illegally acquired 00:24:12.289 --> 00:24:15.329 assets. And beyond these two huge corruption 00:24:15.329 --> 00:24:17.750 threads, there have been others. The disproportionate 00:24:17.750 --> 00:24:20.529 assets case in 1998. Which he and Robby Devi 00:24:20.529 --> 00:24:23.430 were acquitted of in 2006, yes. Then there was 00:24:23.430 --> 00:24:26.470 that truly bizarre allegation in 2017, the Patna 00:24:26.470 --> 00:24:30.250 Zoo soil scam. This one was strange. The allegation 00:24:30.250 --> 00:24:32.589 was that soil excavated from the basement of 00:24:32.589 --> 00:24:34.890 the Saguna Moor Mall, the one from the land for 00:24:34.890 --> 00:24:38.109 jobs scam, was illegally sold to the Patna Zoo 00:24:38.109 --> 00:24:41.230 for 90 lakh without any proper tenders. And this 00:24:41.230 --> 00:24:44.549 happened while his son, Tej Pratap, was the environment 00:24:44.549 --> 00:24:46.730 minister, the department that controls the zoo. 00:24:46.930 --> 00:24:49.480 Now, the Bihar government... later dismissed 00:24:49.480 --> 00:24:52.079 some of the evidence, but the persistent presence 00:24:52.079 --> 00:24:54.619 of these allegations, from massive institutional 00:24:54.619 --> 00:24:58.079 fraud to petty, localized influence peddling, 00:24:58.099 --> 00:25:00.359 it just defines the administrative perception 00:25:00.359 --> 00:25:03.769 of his era. The populism always ran parallel 00:25:03.769 --> 00:25:06.029 to the pervasive charges of personal enrichment. 00:25:06.390 --> 00:25:08.450 Okay, we've traced the social revolution and 00:25:08.450 --> 00:25:10.450 the corruption. Now let's move to part five. 00:25:11.289 --> 00:25:14.049 Reconciling the legacy of Lalu Prasad Yadav and 00:25:14.049 --> 00:25:16.950 the impact of this dual identity on Bihar's political 00:25:16.950 --> 00:25:19.690 landscape. His rule fundamentally changed the 00:25:19.690 --> 00:25:21.930 social contract, but it inevitably drew massive 00:25:21.930 --> 00:25:25.109 criticism. Opponents coined the term Yadavization. 00:25:25.549 --> 00:25:27.609 A broad accusation that he had simply replaced 00:25:27.609 --> 00:25:29.950 upper caste hegemony with Yadav caste hegemony. 00:25:30.109 --> 00:25:32.269 Working almost exclusively for their benefit. 00:25:32.490 --> 00:25:35.569 But that claim of preferential economic benefit, 00:25:35.769 --> 00:25:39.369 it's complicated by some surprising data. Because 00:25:39.369 --> 00:25:42.210 if political power translated directly into wealth, 00:25:42.490 --> 00:25:44.990 the Yadavs should have seen a rapid economic 00:25:44.990 --> 00:25:48.490 uplift. But a 2011 -2012 report found a critical 00:25:48.490 --> 00:25:51.190 contradiction. The average per capita income 00:25:51.190 --> 00:25:53.710 for Yadavs was actually among the lowest for 00:25:53.710 --> 00:25:56.470 the major OBC groups. It was dramatically lower 00:25:56.470 --> 00:25:58.630 than upper castes like Brahmins who were earning 00:25:58.630 --> 00:26:01.329 more than double, or even other agrarian castes 00:26:01.329 --> 00:26:04.539 like Kermis and Kushwahas. Which suggests that 00:26:04.539 --> 00:26:07.299 political power, the ajat, the dignity, did not 00:26:07.299 --> 00:26:09.619 translate proportionally into immediate economic 00:26:09.619 --> 00:26:12.940 gains for the entire caste. Exactly. Their political 00:26:12.940 --> 00:26:15.579 assertiveness shifted the social order, but the 00:26:15.579 --> 00:26:17.900 upper castes still retained a vice grip on the 00:26:17.900 --> 00:26:20.500 upper echelons of the bureaucracy and the dominant 00:26:20.500 --> 00:26:23.220 economic structures. This is the complex tradeoff 00:26:23.220 --> 00:26:25.759 of his legacy. While he gave the poor a political 00:26:25.759 --> 00:26:28.099 voice, critics focused heavily on the dire state 00:26:28.099 --> 00:26:30.329 of law and order. The perception of administrative 00:26:30.329 --> 00:26:33.470 collapse was widespread. A marked rise in kidnapping, 00:26:33.829 --> 00:26:36.349 extortion, the proliferation of private armies 00:26:36.349 --> 00:26:39.630 engaging in intense caste wars. And this was 00:26:39.630 --> 00:26:42.569 the dark shadow of his populist strategy. By 00:26:42.569 --> 00:26:44.990 empowering Bahubalis and offering tacit support 00:26:44.990 --> 00:26:47.349 to Naxalite groups fighting the landlord class. 00:26:47.710 --> 00:26:50.029 He was prioritizing immediate social revolution 00:26:50.029 --> 00:26:52.910 and political freedom for his base over maintaining 00:26:52.910 --> 00:26:55.930 rigorous state control. It was chaotic, yes, 00:26:56.109 --> 00:26:59.210 but for many Dalits and lower castes, the collapse 00:26:59.210 --> 00:27:02.170 of upper caste coercion in elections was worth 00:27:02.170 --> 00:27:04.900 the heightened insecurity. They exchanged a certainty 00:27:04.900 --> 00:27:07.779 of social subjugation for a chaotic but free 00:27:07.779 --> 00:27:10.039 existence. And we have to include the enduring 00:27:10.039 --> 00:27:13.000 issue of nepotism and dynasticism. His career 00:27:13.000 --> 00:27:15.220 set the precedent, starting with his wife, Rabri 00:27:15.220 --> 00:27:18.079 Devi, becoming CM, and continuing with his children, 00:27:18.279 --> 00:27:21.019 Misa Parti, Tej Pratap, and Tejashwi Yadav, all 00:27:21.019 --> 00:27:23.400 entering politics. And his political influence, 00:27:23.539 --> 00:27:25.400 even while in jail, has remained staggering. 00:27:25.880 --> 00:27:29.400 In the 2015 Bihar Assembly elections, his party, 00:27:29.500 --> 00:27:32.119 the RJD, emerged as the single largest party. 00:27:32.279 --> 00:27:35.019 They formed the Mahagabandhan, or Grand Alliance, 00:27:35.119 --> 00:27:37.900 government with Midesh Kumar's JDU. An alliance 00:27:37.900 --> 00:27:40.920 of anti -BJP forces that proved incredibly fragile, 00:27:41.019 --> 00:27:42.920 specifically because of the corruption allegations 00:27:42.920 --> 00:27:46.440 still hanging over the family. Exactly. In 2017, 00:27:46.640 --> 00:27:48.529 the pressure became too great. The ED and the 00:27:48.529 --> 00:27:51.069 CBI lodged criminal cases tied to the land for 00:27:51.069 --> 00:27:54.069 job scam against his son, Tajashwi Adav, who 00:27:54.069 --> 00:27:56.390 was deputy chief minister. So Nidish Kumar resigned. 00:27:56.730 --> 00:27:59.250 He resigned, abandoned the RJD, and immediately 00:27:59.250 --> 00:28:02.170 rejoined the BJP -led alliance, citing corruption 00:28:02.170 --> 00:28:04.690 as the primary reason. But the RJD's base held. 00:28:04.849 --> 00:28:07.369 In 2020, they were again the single largest party. 00:28:07.470 --> 00:28:10.029 And the political pendulum swung back in 2022 00:28:10.029 --> 00:28:12.809 when Nidish Kumar temporarily rejoined them, 00:28:12.890 --> 00:28:15.869 and Tajashwi returned as deputy CM. But that 00:28:15.869 --> 00:28:19.089 alliance fractured again. in 2024, when Nidish, 00:28:19.190 --> 00:28:21.430 citing the same corruption cases, returned to 00:28:21.430 --> 00:28:24.430 the BJP fold. The final data point we have shows 00:28:24.430 --> 00:28:27.170 the RJD hitting a record low of just 25 seats 00:28:27.170 --> 00:28:30.609 in the 2025 Bihar elections, showing that Pendulum 00:28:30.609 --> 00:28:32.859 continues to swing sharply against them. So we've 00:28:32.859 --> 00:28:35.519 seen the full complex arc. He's a politician 00:28:35.519 --> 00:28:37.920 who fundamentally dismantled the social hierarchies 00:28:37.920 --> 00:28:39.759 of one of India's largest states, challenging 00:28:39.759 --> 00:28:42.099 upper caste dominance through radical, charismatic 00:28:42.099 --> 00:28:44.579 populism, often at the cost of administrative 00:28:44.579 --> 00:28:47.740 integrity. His legacy is defined by this social 00:28:47.740 --> 00:28:50.420 upheaval. He delivered dignity and political 00:28:50.420 --> 00:28:53.720 freedom, that precious ijot to millions who had 00:28:53.720 --> 00:28:56.650 never known it. Yet this achievement is tragically 00:28:56.650 --> 00:28:59.849 and inextricably linked to administrative collapse, 00:29:00.150 --> 00:29:03.289 the weakening of state institutions, and a pervasive 00:29:03.289 --> 00:29:05.730 decades -long pattern of high -profile corruption 00:29:05.730 --> 00:29:08.549 convictions. And the Land for Jobs scam in particular 00:29:08.549 --> 00:29:10.869 illustrates how the political power meant to 00:29:10.869 --> 00:29:12.789 uplift the marginalized was almost immediately 00:29:12.789 --> 00:29:15.789 converted into immense illegal personal wealth 00:29:15.789 --> 00:29:18.509 for his family through shell companies. So what 00:29:18.509 --> 00:29:20.549 does this all mean for you, the listener? The 00:29:20.549 --> 00:29:23.710 story of Lalu Prasad Yadav. highlights the profound, 00:29:23.890 --> 00:29:26.509 often tragic, trade -offs in democratic politics, 00:29:26.710 --> 00:29:30.150 especially in a deeply unequal society. We see 00:29:30.150 --> 00:29:32.869 the explosive power of identity politics to grant 00:29:32.869 --> 00:29:35.789 freedom and honor to excluded masses. Yet we 00:29:35.789 --> 00:29:37.910 also see the crippling cost when established 00:29:37.910 --> 00:29:40.150 institutional structures, the checks and balances 00:29:40.150 --> 00:29:42.509 designed to prevent fraud, are intentionally 00:29:42.509 --> 00:29:45.250 subverted in the name of that revolution. It 00:29:45.250 --> 00:29:48.150 raises a crucial question about how we, or how 00:29:48.150 --> 00:29:51.349 history, should ultimately weigh a leader's contribution. 00:29:52.039 --> 00:29:54.920 If a charismatic leader successfully grants political 00:29:54.920 --> 00:29:57.700 dignity and voting freedom to oppressed masses, 00:29:57.940 --> 00:30:00.700 but simultaneously fails spectacularly on the 00:30:00.700 --> 00:30:02.619 metrics of development and clean governance, 00:30:02.900 --> 00:30:05.740 how should their tenure be judged? Is political 00:30:05.740 --> 00:30:08.220 empowerment for the marginalized sufficient to 00:30:08.220 --> 00:30:10.940 define success, or must development and clean 00:30:10.940 --> 00:30:13.339 administration remain the only true measure of 00:30:13.339 --> 00:30:16.480 progress? Is dignity without development a temporary 00:30:16.480 --> 00:30:19.019 victory? It's a profound conflict of values, 00:30:19.160 --> 00:30:21.220 and it's something for you to mull or explore 00:30:21.220 --> 00:30:23.440 on your own. Thank you for joining us for this 00:30:23.440 --> 00:30:25.980 deep dive into the dual history of Lalu Prasad 00:30:25.980 --> 00:30:27.960 Yadav. We look forward to having you next time.