Lalu Prasad

Routed in the last Assembly polls, Lalu Prasad, the one-time invincible Raja of Bihar, had sworn he would not speak a single word on the Nitish Kumar government for six months. Lalu has stuck to his word and has remained largely in Delhi since the November debacle. Now that the time of the self-imposed silence is over, Lalu, in an exclusive interview to Dipak Mishra of The Telegraph, bared his heart out on what he thinks about the performance of the Nitish government in its second tenure

TT: Is there any difference between the functioning of the NDA-I and NDA-II governments in Bihar? Lalu Prasad: There is no change. Nitish Kumar is still a big zero. The only difference I see is that he has begun to shift more and more blame on the Centre. He is doing this to hide his own failures. Sab kuch ke liye Centre jimmedar hai? (is the Centre responsible for everything?) We also supported the demand for special status for Bihar because we want the state to develop. But Nitish is trying to project nothing can be done because special status is not being given. He is actually trying to divert public attention because he promised development to the people during the elections but has been unable to deliver.

Nitish did get votes because he has brought in development in Bihar. During the UPA-I regime, when we were in the government (at the Centre), we introduced the Bharat Nirman scheme. If you see the components of the Bharat Nirman scheme, you will find that virtually everything — roads, hospitals and schools — have been built under this and funds have been sent by the Centre for it. Even the books and cycles being distributed (to the students) are under this scheme. You take out Bharat Nirman and its components and you will find that the state government’s own achievement is zero. Nitish managed to take the credit of building roads, hospitals and schools. But my question is what has the state government done with its own resources? Nothing, and it comes to a big zero.

But there is a perception that Nitish has changed Bihar. It’s all publicity and advertisement through the media. You will find statements of great persons declaring what a great difference Nitish is making to Bihar. The state government publicises them. I recently came across a report that a roundabout in a Middle East country has been named Lalu Chowk, and it has a lantern (the RJD party symbol) also. The official name of the place has been forgotten and even the Sheikhs call it Lalu Chowk. But we do not publicise these things. Nitish Kumar ensures that everything is published. The things appearing in the media do not reflect the ground reality. If the situation is so good in Bihar, why are there protests and agitations every day? People are coming to the roads to express their dissatisfaction.

Are there any other failures of the NDA-II government? It’s an all-round failure. Nitish is talking about fighting corruption. Just go to the ground level and find out the money taken for Indira Awaas projects, for making caste certificates or even for recruitment. Where are the jobs promised by Nitish Kumar to the youths and where are the industries he promised to deliver? Law and order in the state has taken a nosedive. During my regime I was criticised because a couple of schoolboys were kidnapped. But today schoolboys are not only being kidnapped but also murdered. Crime against women has risen. It is said that women came out in large numbers to vote for Nitish Kumar. But he has not been able to protect them from atrocities.

Are you hopeful of convincing the people about the functioning of the Nitish government this time? As I said, Nitish Kumar was able to take the credit of all the work we did at the Centre. But the people are beginning to realise that his claim of susashan (good governance) is a sham. That is why there are agitations and resentment expressed by the people at the grassroots level over basic amenities like power and drinking water and deteriorating law and order. Nitish cannot fool the people repeatedly with his slogans of susashan and development.