Former Deputy Chief Minister of BiharTejashwi Yadav, who been handling the affairs of his party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, since his father Lalu Prasad was sent to jail in December last year, has proved his mettle with the party winning the byelections in Jokihat and Araria. He speaks about the current political scenario and Opposition unity. Excerpts:
RLSP leader and Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha skipped the NDA dinner in Patna on Thursday. Is there any space for him in the RJD-Congress alliance?
If you were to look at Upendra Kushwaha’s ideology, he should not be in the NDA at all. His place is here in our camp. He formed a human chain to protest against the education system in Bihar. We too feel strongly about it and we supported him. Mr. Kushwaha backs reservation, while BJP Minister Anant Hegde and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat have publicly spoken against it. If he comes we will sit and talk. He has to take the first step.
Do Nitish Kumar’s recent statements on demoneti-sation indicate that he is uncomfortable in the alliance with the BJP?
He is very uncomfortable! This is his style to communicate his discomfort. The BJP does not include him in the decision-making process. There are many things the BJP does not like about Nitish ji and that he doesn’t like about them. They are very selfish people. This is just a contrived arrangement that they arrived at to put the RJD out of power.
If Nitish Kumar does walk out of the NDA, will you keep the door open for him?
Why should we keep the door open for him? And what is the surety that even if somehow he does join our alliance that he won’t go back to the BJP? Look at his record. In the last four years, he has had four governments allying with all the major parties. He does not have a vote bank. People say inke chehre ka kamaal hai [his face pulls in the votes], but the bypolls prove this theory wrong. We were very sure that he would not go back to the BJP when we formed the mahagatbandhan , but he did. No one trusts him now. Even his own MLAs can never be sure on what his next move is going to be.
Most of your tweets and statements are directed at Nitish Kumar? So who is the primary political enemy, the JD(U) or the BJP in Bihar?
Nitish Kumar does not have any credibility. I only react to him when he says anything to me. The main problem in Bihar and all over the country is the BJP! If the BJP comes to power again in 2019, they will ruin our Constitution. If there is no peace, there can be no prosperity. With the BJP in power, there can be no peace. On the one hand, they create the Ambedkar Museum to say that they are with the BJP but when it comes to the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, they strategically got it diluted. They don’t believe in Gandhi or Ambedkar, they only believe in Godse and Golwalkar.
We have been hearing about a greater Opposition alliance against the BJP, but who will be the face of such an alliance?
When UPA-I was formed were the voters told who will be the face? No! Why are these questions being asked right now? When the BJP can have alliance with 40 parties what is the harm in the Opposition parties coming together to counter it.
And more importantly, none of the senior leaders are angling for the lead position. Yes, Rahul Gandhi, has said that if the Congress emerges as the single largest party, he is ready to take the Prime Minister’s position. It is but natural! Whichever party manages to be the single largest party would want its man to be the Prime Minister. The Congress is the largest Opposition party. It will be fighting pan-India. Now can the RJD fight beyond Bihar and Jharkhand? Or can Mamata Banerjee fight beyond West Bengal? Or Chandrababu Naidu beyond Andhra Pradesh? It is only practical that the Prime Minister should belong to the single largest party. The Congress in fact, has more responsibility, being the largest Opposition party. It needs to take everyone together.
So can Rahul Gandhi lead such an alliance?
Rahul Gandhi has now been a Parliamentarian for many terms. He has been vice-president and now the president of the country’s oldest party. Under his leadership the Congress gave a good fight in the BJP’s stronghold in Gujarat and more recently in Karnataka.Every alliance needs a person who acts as a pivot keeping everyone together. Like Comrade Surjeet was for UPA-I, who is playing that role now?
Did anyone think that Mayawati and Akhilesh will come together? My father Lalu Prasad Yadav even before last year’s Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections had advised everyone that Bihar’s mahagatbandhan should be repeated not just in U.P. but nationally. He spoke to both Mayawati ji and Akhilesh ji to convince them to come together. We are very happy to see that they did eventually come together for Phulpur, Gorakpur and Kairana bypolls. The BJP can only be defeated with Lalu-ism. My father’s dream of mahagatbandhan is now happening nationally. The BJP sees him as a threat and that is why it unleashed its alliance partners, the CBI, ED and IT departments, against our family.
You were in government with Nitish Kumar when the prohibition law came. In retrospect do you feel it was a wrong decision?
I agree that prohibition should be extended to the entire nation for the good of the people. In Bihar the implementation went awry. You are arresting the poor, but what about those who are smuggling in the liquor or the officers who are facilitating the smuggling. They are going scot-free! So many people who have been arrested under prohibition laws are poor and do not even have money for bail. At one point, Nitish ji was holding rallies in every State campaigning for prohibition. Now that he is in the NDA, why doesn’t he ask the neighbouring States, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, to impose it.
