| Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav | |
|---|---|
| Lalu Prasad Yadav at a political rally in January 2007, at Kesariya, Bihar, India. | |
| Ex Minister of Railways Government of India MP-Lok Sabha |
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| In office 24 May 2004 to 22 May 2009 |
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| Preceded by | Nitish |
| Succeeded by | Mamta |
| Constituency | Saran |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 11 June 1948 [1] Gopalganj, Bihar[2]) |
| Political party | RJD |
| Spouse(s) | Rabri Devi |
| Residence | 10, Circular Road, Patna 25, Tuglak Road, New Delhi-11 |
| Religion | Hindu |
| Website | rashtriyajanatadal.com |
| As of September 25, 2006 Source: [Lok Sabha members' biodata [3]] |
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Lalu Prasad Yadav (Devanāgarī: लालू प्रसाद यादव) is an Indian politician from Bihar. He was the Minister of Railways from 2004 to 2009 in the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, and the President of the Rashtriya Janata Dal political party. He is a Member of Parliament in the 15th Lok Sabha from the Saran constituency in Bihar.
He entered politics during his student days at Patna University, and he was elected a member of the Lok Sabha in 1977 as a Janata party candidate. At the age of 29 he was one of its youngest members of Parliament.[4] Unfortunately for Bihar, his tenure as Chief minister of the state has been a failure in all fronts of governance and is infamously termed as Jungle Raj.[5]
He is famous for his charismatic leadership and mass appeal,[6][7] and has been criticized for caste-based politics.[7] and the corruption cases against him.[8]
Yadav served as the Chief Minister of Bihar from 1990 till 1997, when he resigned following escalating corruption charges in the Fodder Scam. From 1997 to 2005, with brief interruptions, his wife Rabri Devi was the Chief Minister. Her political opponents often accused her as having served as his "surrogate."[9]
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Lalu Prasad Yadav was born in Phulwaria, in the Gopalganj district of Bihar. His father's name Kundan Rai (Yadav Sahab) and his mother's name, Marchia Devi.[4] He is a lawyer by education. He holds Bachelor's degree in Law (LLB) and a Masters in Political Science from B. N. College, Patna, Patna University. He turned down Patna University's Honorary Doctorate in 2004.[10] Lalu Prasad Yadav had his schooling, from 1st standard to 7th standard, at Bihar Military Police No-5 middle school.Yadav married Rabri Devi on June 1, 1973.[4] They have seven daughters and two sons.
Lalu Prasad Yadav served as the Chief Minister of Bihar two times first for a term for 10 March 1990 to 03 April 1995 and then for a brief term for 04 April 1995 to 25 July 1997.Lalu Prasad Yadav also served as the Railway Minister of India for a term for 2004 to 2009.He is Member of Parliament for Saran(Chhapra) and National President of Rashtriya janata Dal (RJD).
Lalu Prasad Yadav entered politics as General Secretary of the Patna University Students' Union in 1970. He led the student movement inspired by Jai Prakash Narayan, Raj Narain, Karpoori Thakur and Satyendra Narayan Sinha. The former Chief Minister of Bihar and the then President of Bihar State[11] Janata Party, Satyendra Narayan Sinha supported him as a candidate for the Lok Sabha and campaigned for him.[12][13] He was elected as a member of the 9th Lok Sabha on a Janata Party ticket at the age 29, becoming one of the youngest members of the Indian Parliament at the time.
In a span of 10 years, Yadav became a formidable force in Bihar State Politics. During the Indian general elections in 1989 and state assembly elections, he successfully led the National Front coalition in Bihar. It was, therefore, no surprise that he was elected the Chief Minister leaving behind Ram Sundar Das, a former chief minister from the same party, when it came to power in the 1990 Assembly elections. The World Bank lauded his party for its work in the 1990s on the economic front.[14]
A report was published by the BBC news in 1996 according to which the police unearthed a Rs. 1950 crore (US$ 267 Million), Fodder Scam in Bihar, which allegedly involved Yadav and the State's leading bureaucrats and politicians, albeit the probe itself was ordered by him. He claimed it to be an Opposition conspiracy to stop his political growth.[15] The fodder scam forced Yadav to resign from the office of Chief Minister and he made his wife, Rabri Devi, his successor as the state's Chief Minister.[16]
Yadav formed the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in 1997, after breaking away from the Janata Dal. According to Limca Book of Records, he is the longest serving president of an Indian Political Party.[17] He remained in power in Bihar for more than one and a half decades. In November 2005 elections, his party, the RJD, could win just 54 seats, which put his party in third place, after the Janata Dal United (JDU) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Nitish Kumar led coalition, consisting of JD(U) and BJP, came to power. In the 2010 elections, RJD tally was reduced to just 22 seats whereas the ruling alliance claimed a record 206 out of the 243 Assembly seats.[18]
Yadav was elected to the 14th Lok Sabha from Chhapra and Madhepura seats of Bihar. He was able to defeat the high profile BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy from Chhapra and the JD(U) president Sharad Yadav from Madhepura. He became the railway minister in the UPA Government. Later, he gave up the Madhepura seat.
Yadav banned plastic cups from being used to serve tea at railway stations and ordered that they be replaced by kulhars (earthen cups), to generate more employment in rural areas.[19] Later, he also said that he had plans to introduce buttermilk[20] and khādī.[21] In June 2004, he announced that he would get on the railway himself to inspect its problems and went on to board the Patna railway station at midnight.[22]
When he took over, the Indian Railways was a loss-making organization. In the 4 years under his leadership, it made a cumulative total profit of Rs. 25,000 crores (US $5.2 billion).
He left passenger fares untouched and found several other profitable sources of revenue for the Railways. He also improved on his first year's performance by stating a profit of 14,000 crores with decreased freight and unchanged passenger fares in 2006. Then, in the 2007 budget, he increased the profit level to 20,000 crores with the introduction of cushion seats in all unreserved compartments. In 2008, profits were 25,000 crores (equals US $6.25 billion @ $1~Rs.40)
Well known schools of management were interested in Yadav's leadership in managing the turnaround (with more or less the same IAS officers & the same workforce who worked under the previous ministers). He went to and addressed over a hundred students from Harvard, Wharton and others in Hindi. He has received invitations from 8 Ivy League schools for lectures.[23] The turnaround of the Indian Railways is now being studied by the students of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.[24] Prof G. Raghuram, a faculty member, IIM-A, has already conducted a detailed study on the Railways turnaround.[25]
In August 2008, CNN-IBN alleged that Yadav had misused his position as the Union Railway Minister to help his relatives acquire land.[26] Earlier Railway ministers and his political opponents Mamata Banerjee & Nitish Kumar have raised doubts over Lalu's achievements.[27]
Many books have been written in praise of Yadav by local writers including Lalu Chalisa and Lalu Hala. Entertainers, in television and film industry, mimic Yadav for their profession. According to a media report, many local barbers and saloons are earning money offering what they call the Lalu style hair cut. A barber of Hajipur was quoted as saying, "The style is a craze among the youth and even policemen".[28] Yadav has been recognised as a brand on his own amongst a few industries in rural Bihar.[29]
A Patna-based company launched "Lalu Khaini" (tobacco) in 2004, which was a hit. In 2005, Speedage Corp. introduced "Laluji" dolls that became popular with kids. In 2006, Lalu ka Khzana, a chocolate produced by New Delhi-based Chetak company, became very popular with kids in rural areas of north Bihar districts like Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi and Madhubani. The wrapper of the chocolate packet depicted two different caricatures of Lalu — one as a politician and the other as a magician. More than 100,000 packets were reportedly sold.[30]
A cheap cosmetic pack brand, Lalu Chale Sasural ("Lalu goes to in-laws house"), became extremely popular among rural Bihari girls, especially in the areas of Vaishali, Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga and Samastipur. Each packet, priced at Rs. 23 (roughly half a USD), contains items of daily use like face powder, cream, earrings, sticker, and a necklace.[31]
In June 2006, Prakash Agro Industries in Bihar started selling cattle fodder under the brand name Lalu Pashu Aahar. It was reported that the outcome of this branding strategy had surpassed the company's expectations and they were facing problems in meeting the huge demand for their fodder.[32]
Yadav has a sizable fan following in Bollywood, which includes actors Sunil Shetty and Raza Murad and directors Mahesh Manjrekar and Mahesh Bhatt to name a few. Indian actor turned politician Shatrughan Sinha, who is a political opponent of Yadav, once said, "Had Yadav not been a politician he could have been an actor".[33] Mahesh Bhatt has gone to the extent of saying that Yadav deserves to become Prime Minister of India.[34] A Bollywood movie titled Padmashree Laloo Prasad Yadav was released in 2004. Though his name appeared in the title, the movie was not about him, but had characters named Padmashreee, Laloo, Prasad and Yadav, however the politician made a guest appearance in it.
These incidences are viewed by some people as an attempt by the mainstream media to make deliberate fun of Yadav's accent although the movie was not a big hit.
Yadav has been charged in several corruption cases,[35] the most infamous being the "Fodder Scam" in which about Rs. 950 crores (US $211.85 million) were siphoned off from the animal husbandry department. Laloo Yadav has been an accused in many of the 63-odd cases filed. He has been remanded to custody on multiple occasions because of the number of cases. Over 64 people have been convicted in the case. "Lalu accused in six fodder scam cases". Outlook. April 25, 2005. http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?id=294484. Retrieved 2006-05-29.
"The ride to Ranchi". Frontline. December 2001. http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/fl1825/18250430.htm. Retrieved 2006-05-29. Yadav was first sent to "Judicial remand" (Bihar Military Police guest house, Patna) on July 30, 1997, for 134 days.[36] On October 28, 1998, he was again sent to the same guest house for 73 days. When the Supreme Court of India took exception to his guest house stay, he had also moved to the Beur jail in Patna. He was later remanded for 11 days on April 5, 2000, in a disproportionate assets case. He surrendered along with his wife, Rabri Devi, and was sent to the Beur Jail.[36] Due to the proceedings in the fodder scam, Yadav was remanded for a day in Beur jail on November 28, 2000.
On November 26, 2001, Yadav was again remanded, in a case related to the fodder scam.[37] He accused the NDA of creating a conspiracy against him. On October 1, 2004, the Supreme Court of India served a notice to Yadav and his wife, Rabri Devi, on the fodder scam. This was in response to a petition, which alleged that they have been interfering with late in the investigation. Since Laloo Yadav is currently a member of the Union Government at Delhi, the CBI has been accused of dragging its feet on the issue.[38]
On August 5, 2004, Yadav claimed that L. K. Advani, a senior BJP leader and the Leader of the Opposition was an accused in a conspiracy to kill Muhammad Ali Jinnah and described him as an 'international absconder'. On September 14, 2004, Lalu asked L. K. Advani to come clean on 'his involvement' in the alleged conspiracy to assassinate the founder of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah.[39]
On September 28, 2004, Lalu alleged Mr. Venkaiah Naidu, the then Union Rural Minister, of having sold 55,000 tonnes of wheat in the name of drought relief distribution in AP. "A CBI probe will be initiated to find the truth" he said.[40]
Although he has maintained a good relationship with the media and they were showing his holy parade in the chief minister's house in patna and the pictures of cows he owned and feed on govt. money just to get sheer publicity from the lower section of the society and the onion bread drama to cheer the lower section without any benefit to them from govt. But when media stopped giving him bed publicity he started crying against media and times he has accused the media of being unfair, going so far as to threaten to sue certain media outlets for defamation.[41] Although the Media bias ,[42] he and his supporters mainly two brother in laws are notoriously famous in the city for capturing girls and the property of the people in patna and his tenure as the chief minister of bihar is also termed as Jungal Raj ( Uncivilised Kingdom). the most recent being the last Bihar State Assembly Elections he lost all the seats and even his most favourite constituency, one thing is noted that when he won the second and third election in bihar he said that the Jinn (divine Soul) came out of the ballet box and gave him the vote although the mandate of the state was different.[43]
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Nitish Kumar |
Minister of Railways 25 May 2004 – 18 May 2009 |
Succeeded by Mamata Banerjee |
| Preceded by Jagannath Mishra |
Chief Minister of Bihar 1990–1997 |
Succeeded by Rabri Devi |
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