Lalu Prasad at a news meet in Patna. Picture by Ranjeet Kumar Dey

Patna, Dec. 18: Out of jail, Lalu Prasad has immediately played the secular card that stood him in good stead for much of his political career, attacking Narendra Modi while dismissing Nitish Kumar as a spent force.

Lalu, who had said upon his release from a Ranchi prison on Monday that he was the only leader who could leash the “NaMo wave”, today reiterated that Modi’s brand of politics was “dangerous” for the secular fabric of India.

“The battle for 2014 is one over which India will remain united or split. A psychological war has been launched by corporate houses, international agencies and a section of the media,” Lalu said, stressing that the RSS and Modi had a “hidden agenda” to turn the clock back to 1947 when the country was divided on religious lines.

By harping on the secular issue, the RJD chief has made it clear that he would like to project himself as the leader who can take on Modi in Bihar, not Nitish Kumar.

“Lalu knows that he first has to consolidate his basic votebank — the Yadavs and Muslims, who together contribute 31 per cent of the votes in Bihar,” pointed out a senior RJD leader.

He said that both Nitish and the BJP are eyeing Lalu’s core votebank of Muslims and Yadavs who kept the RJD in power for 15 years.

During the Hunkar Rally of October 27, Modi had made an appeal to the substantial Yadav voters in the state. Modi had then declared that since Dwarka was in Gujarat and Lord Krishna was the God of Yaduvanshis (Yadavs), he (Modi) had a natural claim over them. Since then, there has been a whisper campaign by the BJP that the Yadavs would vote for Modi in the Lok Sabha, though they admitted the scenario would be different in the Assembly polls.

This, sources said, rattled the RJD, which was alarmed over the possibility of a split in its core vote. Lalu admitted as much. “My workers told me that people visit Yadav-dominated habitats and ask them to make Modi the PM and Lalu the CM. Not a single Yadav will vote for the BJP,” Lalu retorted, stressing that Dwarka was actually his.

“Lord Krishna was born in jail and came out to kill Kansa,” he remarked.

Lalu also wants to maintain his grip over the Muslim votes with Nitish seeking to reach out to them by breaking his 17-year alliance with the BJP over Modi.

Lalu, who yesterday scornfully said “yeh Nitish-fitish” was no factor in Bihar, today painted the Bihar chief minister as a “neo-secular” whose credentials were suspect. “Nitish is like a person who has just come from his sasural (in-laws’ home) to his naihar (home) and makes statements threatening his sasural so that he can win the confidence of his naihar. Shivanand Tiwari was sacked from his post because it was Tiwari who encouraged Nitish to snap ties with the BJP and align with the Congress. Nitish is privately ruing the day he decided to snap ties with the BJP,” Lalu said, and dubbed his old friend an “opportunist”.

Lalu believes that an alliance with the Congress is possible. “If one asks me if we are going in for an alliance with the Congress, the answer is ‘Yes,’” he said.

He said that Congress president Sonia Gandhi had given him a call on Wednesday expressing happiness over his release. “She is a great lady,” Lalu said.

Snapping ties with the Congress in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls is an act which Lalu still regrets and acknowledges as a mistake. Though the Congress is in a bad shape in Bihar, it is widely believed that the party could still swing votes of the Muslims in favour of whoever it allies with. No wonder Lalu is ready to accept Rahul Gandhi as Prime Minister when doubts have been expressed over his ability to govern. “It’s the Congress’s prerogative,” Lalu said.