Perhaps Laloo Prasad Yadav already knows that the potters of Jharkhand and Bihar are extremely happy with his decision to introduce kulhads or earthen cups for serving beverages on the train. These people were in hardship, having lost out to makers and sellers of disposable plastic cups. Many had either taken to rag-picking or working as daily wage workers or had joined the guerrilla groups of the Maoist Communist Centre or the People’s War to “liberate” themselves from the “market-driven bourgeoisie rule”. Now they are busy repairing their wheels.

The kumhars, in addition to other social groups, will discover in Laloo Yadav their messiah. The man is already the role model for milkmen and cowherds across the country. Yadav is also the hero of toddy-sellers in Bihar and Jharkhand.

Not all, however, are happy. Some of Yadav’s critics, who also claim to have some knowledge of geology, argue that in the end, the railways minister’s proposal may prove to be unviable and costly. After all, it takes centuries to form the upper crust of the earth which the kumhars will be using. Moreover, it will also be hard to ensure a regular supply of earthen ware to the gigantic network of Indian railways. The move is therefore more populist than pragmatic.

Of course. It goes without saying that there is hardly anyone to beat Laloo Yadav in this game. The earth be damned, through the kulhars, Yadav has managed to ensure that more votes are cast for his party. Whether the stress on earthen cups manages to uplift the poor kumhars is a matter of secondary importance only.

Sop opera

When it comes to giving sops, Yadav, however, has a competitor closer home. The Jharkhand chief minister, Arjun Munda, who belongs to the Bharatiya Janata Party, has become generous ever since his party’s debacle in the Lok Sabha polls. He has announced five lakh houses for people living below the poverty line. Many potters, too, will benefit from Munda’s largesse. Assembly polls are round the corner in both Bihar and Jharkhand. But one can be sure that when it comes to voting, the kumhars are likely to listen to Yadav more than Munda.

Anyone who has watched Laloo Yadav for the last 15 years will know that he will do a follow-up on the kumhars as he had done with the Pasis (a caste which lives on brewing toddy and selling it in Bihar). The Rashtriya Janata Dal leader had once picked up a Pasi youth at his public meeting and made him announce the wonderful gift he had given the community by waiving the tree tax they had been paying since the days of the raj. Now Yadav can pick up a potter at his future election meetings and make him tell the crowd how he had tried to restore their traditional source of living.

Who framed Yadav?

There is hardly anyone who can match Yadav’s skills in communication. His predecessor, Nitish Kumar, had failed to widen his support base despite getting a 2,250 megawatt super thermal power plant in Barh, setting up a railway zonal office at Hajipur, getting underway the construction of a railway bridge on the Ganges and introducing a plethora of trains in Bihar. Kumar ate humble pie in Barh. But Yadav, one can be sure, will make the kumhars sing paeans for him.

To this correspondent, Laloo Yadav had once said, “Don’t write against me. If I am not around, you too will not survive. Who will you write on if I go out of power?” At that time, he was at the Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna, where he was incarcerated as an undertrial prisoner in connection with fodder scam cases in 1997. He was mightily peeved at some of the reports on the fodder scam which decried him. He had then pleaded, “Why are you people carrying out my media trial...My opponents have framed me...I am innocent.”

From Bihar’s verdict on this man, many seem to have taken him for his word. But even in those difficult times, Laloo Yadav had not disappointed even the most lowly of journalists. Then, as now, Yadav’s colourful personality assured one of a readable story. (courtesy The Telegraph)

Nalin Verma
The Author is the Ranchi based special correspondent of the Telegraph