Patna, Sept. 3: It’s testing time for Lalu Prasad, the once invincible strongman of Bihar, as he embarks on his Forbesganj march on Sunday, the first time he would be hitting the streets since his humiliating defeat in last year’s Assembly elections.

Lalu will be travelling across the portion of north Bihar that was once considered his citadel —Vaishali, Begusrai, Khagaria, Purnea and Araria — all having a sizeable population of his winning MY (Muslim-Yadav) combination. Between 2000 and 2005, the “M” factor grew weaker and weaker and the Extremely Backward Castes went against him.

“We are going to Forbesganj to fight a grassroots battle. Nitish Kumar has exploited the minorities. The bullets were fired on the minorities by the police at the behest of the RSS. Nitish Kumar has not even paid compensation to the families of the victims. We have collected money which we will give to the families,” Lalu said today, asserting that he would now go to the people.

The RJD chief criticised the Nitish government over the land allotments made by Bihar Industrial Area Development Authority (Biada) and reasserted the superiority of Parliament over Anna Hazare. “Anna Hazare is not JP,” he stressed.

However, even his supporters are not calling his Forbesganj march an effort to make a comeback in Bihar politics. “This march should be viewed as a protest against the atrocities on minorities. Even two months after the firing, no action has been initiated against the guilty officials. In the name of a judicial probe, even compensation to the bereaved families has been stopped,” said RJD MP Ram Kripal Yadav, insisting that the Nitish government was under the influence of the RSS.

Lalu will address a series of meetings on way to Forbesganj, where at least five persons were killed in police firing in early June, and even his air-conditioned Rath-Sadbhavna Rath — which has primarily been used during elections — will be on the roads. “The party has fixed five to six public meetings during the journey to Forbesganj, but he always stops to address people when he sees crowds,” said Ram Kripal.

The Forbesganj march has invited the scorn of the JD(U) in the past. “Laluji should have gone to the people long ago instead of sitting in Delhi. That is the mandate given to him by the people,” chief minister Nitish Kumar has said.

On Saturday, JD(U) spokesperson Sanjay Singh took a potshot at the march. “The firing took place two months ago, why did he not go earlier? Instead he was sitting in Delhi in the hope that he would be included in the Union ministry,” he said.

A former RJD MP said the march would be a test to see if Lalu’s presence on the roads has the same electric effect as he had in his halcyon days.