The RJD posters, in Urdu, for the May 15 rally. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, May 9: When in doubt, fall back on the tried and tested.

Lalu Prasad is doing just that, conscious that the erosion in his much-vaunted MY (Muslim-Yadav) social combination has contributed to his diminished political clout in Bihar.

And with Nitish Kumar focused on winning the trust of the Muslims with his strident anti-Narendra Modi stand, Lalu, with barely a year left for the general elections, is bent on keeping intact the support base he once strode over like a colossus.

The most visible manifestation of this are the posters for the RJD’s upcoming Parivartan rally scheduled for May 15 at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan.

Most hoardings that have come up all over Patna announcing the rally are in Urdu and have Muslim men and women holding the lantern — the RJD symbol.

“Lalu Prasad knows that there can be no parivartan (change) in Bihar’s power equation if he cannot consolidate his MY combination again,” said a former RJD MP.

RJD sources said they believe Nitish’s popularity among Muslims has eroded after the police firing incident at Forbesganj (Araria) in June 2011.

With the state looking forward to Assembly elections in another two-and-a-half years, it was time that the party cashed in on the opportunity and recaptured the minority votebank.

In one huge hoarding put up near Patna Women’s College along Bailey Road, a group of five to six Muslim women clad in burqas are shown holding the lantern. A similar one has been put up along the Income Tax roundabout, the only difference being that men are holding the RJD symbol in them. There are banners with gory pictures of the police brutality in Forbesganj; others have pictures of Muslim leaders, among them former Siwan MP Mohammed Shahabuddin, currently lodged in jail. All banners and posters are written in Urdu.

Senior RJD leaders were tight-lipped when asked about the poster blitz. State president Ram Chandra Purbey said: “Zyada poster nahi hai. (There are not many posters and hoardings). Will tell you later about it.”

The RJD is charged up considering the fact that only recently some Muslim leaders joined the party at a function in which Lalu Prasad was present. Asked if the party was trying to entice the community, Lalu was cryptic. “The Muslim community knows whom to vote for,” he said.

But do they?

Mohammed Amin, who owns an old tailoring shop in Patna City, said: “Elections are far away. Merely coming up with huge hoardings and posters would not help nor would it result in a mind change when we stand in front of the electronic voting machine. It is a fact that Nitish Kumar has worked for development.”

But in politics, as with life, there can never be a last word, as Amin was quick to point out. “No one can tell about the future, can they?” he asked.

No one knows the answer — but Lalu Prasad’s future surely depends on that.