Patna, July 13: Lalu Prasad is back on the roads hoping to weave the "Mandal magic" once more.

The RJD chief is considered to be a leader thrown up on the Indian political

scene when politics in the country was taking a new turn during the Mandal era of the early '90s.

"Mandal walon, kamandal tod do," Lalu said while leading a protest march here today, demanding release of caste-related census figures and accusing the BJP of withholding the details intentionally.

"Mandal" in Bihar politics stands for the backward classes whereas the term "Kamandal" is used to identify people sympathetic to the BJP.

A pretext for this has been provided by the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre which has decided not to release caste-related figures of the socio-economic-caste census, the limited findings of which were made available recently.

The '90s is considered to be the Mandal era in India politics when then Prime Minister VP Singh had decided to implement the BP Mandal Commission report, which talked of caste-based reservation in government jobs for the backward classes.

The implementation of the report has witnessed polarisation of politics in the country in general and in the heartland, of which Bihar is a part, in particular. Lalu's ascent to power coincided with this decision and the RJD leader went on to use this report for gaining politically to the hilt by empowering the backward classes and emerging as a champion of their cause.

A quarter of a century later, when Lalu stands convicted and has been debarred from contesting elections, he seems to be hoping to revive the Mandal magic.

Lalu was trying to send a message to the OBCs to take on those sympathetic with the BJP. "Bihar had witnessed a polarisation of voters on religious lines during the 2014 general election which helped the BJP in a big way. Laluji does not want a repeat of the same hence he is trying hard to win over the OBC constituency," an RJD insider who was part of Monday's protest march said on the sidelines of the R-Block venue where the march converged and converted into a meeting where Lalu addressed his supporters.

Sipping mineral water throughout the march, even though he was standing on an open vehicle, unlike the thousands of his supporters who were walking in the sultry weather, Lalu had repeated the same words even during the march.

Accompanied by his sons Tej Pratap and Tejaswi, Lalu started the march from the JP roundabout at 12 noon with over 1,000 party workers and supporters following him and reached R-Block gate by 12.40pm while passing through Dakbunglow and busy Bailey Road. To build the pressure, slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi were echoing in the air as both Tej and Tejaswi were equally shouting slogans while holding the party flag.

Lalu said the caste census would become a bigger issue than the Mandal Commission and his party would start a big campaign to release the data followed by another campaign to make a separate budget for those who have been identified.

It was also the occasion when Lalu administered his younger son Tejaswi to read out few points of socio economic caste census data.

Later, 13 members of the party led by its state president Ram Chandra Purbey visited Raj Bhavan and handed over the five-page memorandum to Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi demanding release of the caste census data.