Veteran socialist leader and former Rahstriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP from Jhanjharpur Devendra Prasad Yadav on Tuesday (August 27, 2024) joined Jan Suraaj, a socio-politico campaign spearheaded in Bihar by former election-strategist-cum-political activist Prashant Kishor who currently is undertaking padyatra (foot-march) across Bihar. Jan Suraaj is likely to be a formed as a political party on October 2 in Patna.
“Bihar is in poor shape. Farmers of the State are in trouble. People are taking names of Mahatma Gandhi, Ram Manohar Lohia, and Baba Saheb Ambedkar but they do not follow their ideology. Most of the political parties have used them as a tool to garner vote. I’m joining group of PK (Prashant Kishor) because he has been working for women, dispossessed and those people who are oppressed with poverty. There are lot of people here (in Jan Suraaj),” Mr. Yadav said while joining Jan Suraaj in a programme called Samajwadi Samagam Karyakram (Socialist Gathering Programme) at Patna’s Gyan Bhawan. Jan Suraaj convener Prashant Kishor was also present in the programme. Mr. Yadav had also formed Samajwadi Janata Dal (Democratic) but later merged his party with the JD(U).
Mr. Yadav has been a veteran socialist leader from the times of RJD chief Lalu Prasad and had been an MP from the Jhanjharpur Lok Sabha constituency (1989-1998 and 1999-2009) in the Mithilianchal area. He had also been elected MLA from the Phulparas Assembly constituency (1977-1990). He was the national president of Yuva Lok Dal and has served as Union Minister for Food, Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs, and Public Distribution with an additional charge of Commerce in June 1996 under then Prime Ministers Deve Gowda and Inder Kumar Gujral cabinet.
Taking shots at the the current RJD leadership, Mr. Yadav said, “They [RJD leadership] have distanced themselves from socialist ideologies. They are disassociated from voters and are afraid of Prashant Kishor who is travelling into boondocks of Bihar to meet people.”
Prashant Kishor who had kicked off his padyatra on October 2, 2022, and has travelled over 5,000 kms across the State welcomed Mr. Yadav into the Jan Suraaj fold. Mr. Kishor said, “He is not a politician for me but among those who are said to be a very good human being. When I was travelling across Madhubani I was told about his contributions. He will be among torchbearers. We’ll align more with those having high standards of political capacity.”
Recently, Mr. Kishor had announced in Patna that Jan Suraaj would be formed as a political party on October 2 and would contest on all 243 Assembly seats in Bihar in upcoming elections due in October-November 2025. He also had announced that on at least 40 seats women candidates would be fielded by Jan Suraaj to contest. On August 25,Jan Suraaj also put up posters in Patna slamming nepotism by RJD leader Lalu Prasad at the cost of other leaders from Yadav caste.
“Jan Suraaj will be a political party on October 2 and it will have 25-member Central committee - five persons each from the General Category, Other Backward Class, Extremely Backward Class, Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes and Minorities and this 25-member would elect a leader of the party from these five groups for a term of one year,” Mr. Kishor had announced earlier while asserting he would not be part of the leadership group.
