Lalu Prasad hit the streets on Sunday with a half-an-hour thunderous speech inspiring many an ardent RJD supporter who braved the rain for hours.
The party is opposing the land acquisition bill, passed by the Lak Sabha last Tuesday, and Lalu later submitted a memorandum to the governor with the points raised by the RJD.
The last such occasion Lalu led a march to Raj Bhavan was on February 25, 2014, when he protested the way nine of his party MLAs had been notified as "unattached members" of the Assembly. Chief minister Nitish Kumar and Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary were Lalu's principal targets.
However after a year, the land acquisition bill has found Lalu and Nitish on the same boat though the two leaders began their protest in two different ways - the chief minister was on 24-hour hunger strike from Saturday morning while the RJD chief hit the road with the masses on Sunday.
The march to Raj Bhavan was scheduled to begin from JP roundabout at 11am. However, Lalu reached the venue at 12.45pm on a Gypsy with his eldest son Tej Pratap.
Before the arrival of Lalu, RJD MP from Madhepura Pappu Yadav had reached near the JP statue. However, when Lalu entered the roundabout to pay floral tributes to JP Narayan, he did not even look at Pappu who was standing next to him. Visibly surprised at the gesture, Pappu - known for his recent anti-party stand - did not join the march and left the venue soon.
Besides Tej Pratap, what surprised many was the presence of senior RJD leader and former MP Jagdanand Singh who seldom takes part in such programmes.
Wearing a half-sleeve blue sweater over white kurta-pajama, Lalu shouted slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the jeep followed by around 2,000 party supporters.
When he started the march, it was drizzling. However, Lalu did not bother and request the workers with the help of a public address system to march on through Fraser Road, Dakbungalow roundabout and Station Road. After reaching Mahavir Temple, heavy rain started. Lalu did not take any shelter and asked the driver to stop the jeep just in front of the temple.
He took the microphone and said: "Modi promised that Rs 15 lakh will be deposited in the account of every Indian. Did you get any money in your respective account? Modi has cheated us and now he wants to take your land, I will not allow this dream to fulfil." Some of the party workers were found showing their bank passbooks, as well.
With the downpour rising fast, a street vendor gave a big umbrella, under which he was selling clothes, to Lalu, who continued his speech for over five more minutes after which rain stopped. The vendor got his umbrella back. The march reached the R-Block gate covering the 3km distance where the protesters were stopped by the administration at 2.07pm.
AGITATION HERE, WAIT THERE
A small stage was already put up near the gate from where Lalu addressed the gathering. From the stage, Lalu announced that the way Mahabharat took place for a piece of land the RJD would do similar if the bill was not withdrawn.
"I am going to launch a vehement protest and another Mahabharat will begin if the Modi government does not withdraw this bill. First, they failed to transfer money in people's accounts and now they want to snatch land from the farmers. I am free now (after marriage of youngest daughter) and not going to sit idle. I shall go to the villages to protest against the bill," Lalu said during his half-n-hour speech, which ended around 3pm.
Later, a 22-member delegation, including Lalu, RJD state chief Ramchandra Purbey and secretary general Mundrika Singh, went to Raj Bhavan around 3.30pm and submitted the party memorandum.
Terming Lalu's Raj Bhavan march "a big failure", BJP state president Mangal Panday said the RJD chief wants to divert the issues being with Nitish. "The RJD leader wants to run the government the way he ruled for 15 years filled with fear and threat," he said.
Senior BJP leader and former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi also attacked Lalu saying both Nitish and Lalu had failed to explain the points, which were going against the farmers.
