Surprise attack
A sudden attack on the Rashtriya Janata Dal leader, Lalu Prasad, and his family by the ruling allies in Bihar left everybody surprised. The first salvo came from the Union textiles minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader, Giriraj Singh, who asserted that Prasad and his entire family should wear lockets featuring the chief minister, Nitish Kumar, to express their gratitude to him for giving the RJD a new lease of life. Soon, others joined in with all kinds of suggestions — from the RJD’s first family setting up an idol of Kumar in their puja room to worshipping his photograph. The state energy minister, Bijendra Prasad Yadav, stated that Tejashwi Yadav became the deputy CM twice due to Kumar’s blessings. Several National Democratic Alliance leaders mentioned that the RJD had just 22 seats in the 2010 assembly elections and was only revived in 2015 with Kumar’s help. Kumar’s helping hand, though, may have been a blunder. Amidst the tension regarding the acerbic comments, a senior NDA leader revealed that the alliance was worried about facing Tejashwi Yadav and his strong vote bank comprising the Yadavs and the Muslims. It can become even more formidable with some support from other castes. “The belief among the members of the alliance is that Nitish created a ‘Bhasmasura’ by helping the revival of the RJD and it is now out to destroy him and his allies,” the leader added. Nonetheless, people now have an inkling about the war of words that might ensue during the 2025 state assembly elections. In the meantime, Yadav has embarked on a statewide tour, which would be conducted in phases, to meet party workers and thank them for their support.
Attention deficit
Top functionaries and workers of the RJD are worried about Tejashwi Yadav’s plan to visit Dubai from September 18 to October 8. He has obtained permission from a Delhi court, where he is facing a corruption case. Yadav’s Bihar tour began on September 10 and the vacation would come at the expense of a long break in it. “This is a very worrisome aspect of Tejashwi’s behaviour. He suddenly disappears from the scene without bothering about the need for his presence. He did not attend the monsoon session of the Bihar legislative assembly even for a day, and now he is going on a long foreign tour,” a senior RJD leader said.
RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav arrives to attend the INDIA bloc leaders’ meeting, in New Delhi, Wednesday, June 5, 2024. PTI
Another veteran leader pointed out that the young RJD leader would suddenly shift his focus from his responsibilities towards the people of the state to leading a life of luxury and spending quality time with family. “This lifestyle is not suitable for a poor state like ours. The ruling alliance is surely going to raise a hue and cry on his foreign travel,” a party leader added. However, people close to Yadav asserted that he was going on a vacation to rejuvenate himself for the assembly polls next year.
Grateful friend
A friend in need is a friend indeed. The Union education minister, Dharmendra Pradhan, was isolated due to his demand to rename the 156-year-old Ravenshaw College (now Ravenshaw University) of Cuttack. Pradhan held that TE Ravenshaw, after whom the institution was named, was responsible for the deaths of lakhs of people during the 1866 famine in Odisha. Pradhan said that Ravenshaw had failed miserably as the commissioner of the Cuttack division at that time. The Odisha government did not support Pradhan’s claims, particularly after a public outcry against the proposal. Writers, intellectuals and former students protested against the move and said that Ravenshaw could not be blamed for the famine. After Ravenshaw left Odisha, the Cuttack Zilla School was renamed after him too.
Amid the controversy, Pradhan got a shot in the arm when the Bharatiya Janata Party parliamentarian from Cuttack, Bhartruhari Mahtab, came out in his support and wrote two articles justifying the demand for renaming Ravenshaw University and the need to overcome colonial hangover. Mahtab, a former Biju Janata Dal MP, is paying his dues to Pradhan, who had backed the former and helped him get a BJP Lok Sabha ticket from Cuttack. Mahtab even organised a meeting on the issue of the renaming.
Out of place
Bengalis in Delhi have been protesting against the R.G. Kar incident, forming human chains and participating in candlelight vigils and michhils in areas like Chittaranjan Park and Kalkaji. In Mayur Vihar, an ‘apolitical’ demonstration has been planned inside the Kali Bari with the declaration that posters used and statements given to the press during the event should not be controversial or sensational. The choice of location — a temple — itself has raised eyebrows as protesters had so far avoided places of worship in Delhi.
