File picture of leader of Opposition Abdul Bari Siddiqui with Lalu Prasad at a function

Political parties come with a generous use-before date, they don’t expire just because they’ve been beaten at the polls. But they can spend long periods in sickbay, paralysed and ineffectual, awaiting magical remedy.

Lalu Prasad’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) ruled the state for 15 long years, and ruled it with unprecedented authority and arrogance, things that eventually became ingredients of its downfall. It has now been out of power for six years in which time it has suffered six electoral rejections, each ruder than the previous one. It’s gone from first-aid section to intensive care to isolation ward without any introspection on corrections.

For the first time in two decades, no member of the Lalu clan enjoys rights of admission to the state Assembly; its decimation in the November polls was so complete, the RJD did not even qualify to claim leadership of the Opposition, in fact, no party did.

The most telling thing that can be said of the Opposition in Bihar is that it is the gift of the government. Had chief minister Nitish Kumar not intervened, Abdul Bari Siddiqui would not have been granted the formalities and trappings of leader of Opposition.

Siddiqui, an old and long-sidelined RJD warhorse, in fact owes the chief minister doubly. Had the Nitish wave not swept Bihar so overwhelmingly, Rabri Devi would probably have secured one of the two seats she contested and still been in derelict occupation of his job.

In her five years as leader of Opposition, Rabri Devi spoke not once in the Assembly and rarely, if ever, made consequential interventions in public life.

Not that Siddiqui has presented himself as a shining counterpoint to his predecessor. He is, unsurprisingly, low on spirit and probably also short on sanction. He would not say it in as many words, but the buzz in the RJD is that when Laluji has made up his mind about opposing this government, he himself will spell out how and why.

“The instructions are that we shall remain restrained for at least six months, give this government time to make mistakes,” says a senior RJD functionary. “At the moment even Laluji is not being able to decide what he should say against Nitish that will have some ring of credibility.”

But more than being lost on strategy, Lalu Prasad may be in damaging denial. Two months after his stunning defeat, he still believes that electronic voting machines (EVMs), rather than his huge political deficits against Nitish Kumar, were what laid him so low. “There’s definitely something the matter with these EVMs, that’s the big mystery we must unmask,” he has gone around telling aides and courtiers. “How else would he (Nitish) win such a huge victory, what has he done apart from propaganda?”

It is such political escapism that has prompted leaders like Raghuvansh Prasad Singh to turn openly critical of Lalu Prasad and demand serious examination of what ails the RJD and its politics. Raghuvansh’s bitterness is now ripe enough for him to voice his anger from the party platform and in Lalu’s presence, even if that means he must leave the scene having had his say.

Part of the reason why the boss might be avoiding and exploration of errors — and an open debate — could well be that he realises most of the blame washes up at his own feet. Critical among those mistakes, most partymen privately agree, was the imposition of Rabri Devi.

“She was probably okay as a stop gap chief minister when Laluji had to quit in a rush because of the fodder scam chargesheet, but to then give her a whole term as chief minister and then another as leader of Opposition was a bit too much,” says a former RJD MP. “Rabri Devi ruled not merely at the cost of the party’s conscience, they ruled at the cost of the people of Bihar. Laluji is suffering his punishment, but so are we, and for no fault of ours.”

He seemed to be of the view that the RJD could have recovered some ground in the November election had Lalu Prasad not resolved to field Rabri Devi from two seats and dragged son Tejaswi along the campaign trail, introducing him as the “future of Bihar”. “People saw that the message had not gone to Lalu, he was still bent on imposing family rule, they rejected him ever more strongly,” the leader said.

Rabri, RJD leaders seem more or less convinced, is now a thing of the past, firmly sent back to the kitchen by the double-whammy from Raghopur and Sonepur. But they must wonder, all the same, whether they too are on the slow and tortuous road to becoming history. Political parties may come with a generous use-before date, but not political leaders.