Yoga guru Ramdev’s war against corruption has triggered a strange relationship between him, RJD chief Lalu Prasad and BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha. Lalu and Ramdev used to be mutual admirers. But not anymore. After the yoga guru started his crusade against corruption, Lalu rebuked him in public. alu said Ramdev was no god and had developed political ambitions. When journalists asked Shatrughan Sinha to comment on Lalu’s statement, he refused to speak. The BJP is strongly batting for Ramdev against Lalu. “Shatrughan has never criticised Lalu. He is more comfortable with Lalu than Nitish,” said a senior BJP leader, recalling that he had praised Lalu during the fodder scam. “Lalu has nothing to fear from leaders like Shatrughan. He has reasons to worry about Ramdev instead, who belongs to the same caste and has much more credibility among the masses,” the BJP leader added.The BJP used Swami Sahjanand Saraswati’s 122nd birth anniversary to get even with its ally JD (U) that recently celebrated the event by honouring an army gallantry award winner. The BJP chose to honour an Arjuna Award recipient. The Swami’s portrait was placed between those of Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Deen Dayal Upadhyay, the icons of the Sangh Pariwar. “Very few remember that the Swami was among the first to advocate land reforms and got into a tussle with landlords who belonged to his own caste,” said an onlooker. With the state government employees eagerly waiting for the uploading of their asset details on the government’s website, talks of new modes of investment of “black money” are doing the rounds. “The usual practice was to invest in land and real estate in the names of wives. But now this has to be done carefully,” an official at the state secretariat said. He pointed out that abnormal growth in the wealth of wives and other kin would automatically draw undesired attention. His friend had a way out. “Start living lavishly. Travel first class on planes and trains, go to expensive restaurants and buy expensive branded clothes,” advised his friend, hinting that asset details on public domain might not help in checking corruption but it might lead to better standard of living of government employees. In a recent BJP function, farmers sporting colourful pagris (turbans) came to the venue on tractors. “In Bihar, I do not remember seeing farmers sporting such huge turbans. It looks more Rajasthani,” said a BJP worker. The farmers added colour to the BJP show but their tractors virtually blocked the entry of the star guest - deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi. Announcements had to be made pleading the farmers to remove the tractors.
Sunday, 08 February 2026
