The Hindu : National / Elections 2004 : `Take your lathis, oil them well, chase BJP out'

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Thursday, Apr 29, 2004

National

National - Elections 2004

`Take your lathis, oil them well, chase BJP out'

Venkitesh Ramakrishnan

Chapra

The late afternoon sun is blazing down on the school maidan in the small town of Parsa in Bihar's Chapra constituency. There are not many patches of shade on or around the ground but that does not seem to bother the people there. Many of them look skywards.

Speaker after speaker addresses the crowd from the podium set up at one end of the maidan but this seems to have little effect on these sky-gazers. They are more intent on catching some movement in the clouds. A fairly big bird flies across the horizon and the cry goes out: "Woh aa raha hai (he is coming)." Several false starts later, they finally get to see what they have been waiting for — a helicopter carrying Laloo Prasad Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal president and chief of the anti-BJP alliance in Bihar.

Shouts of "Laloo Yadav Zindabad" fill the ground even as the chopper circles the maidan a few times and lands in a corner of the field. The rotor blades come to a slow halt and the "great performer" of Bihar politics emerges from under the blades, waving to the crowd that is jostling to get a closer look of him and his "flying machine."

The first act of the "performance" does not last long as Mr. Yadav is hurried into a car and taken straight to podium.

The second act begins the moment he is on stage. A bottle of water is brought up and Mr. Yadav washes his face and feet even as a couple of local leaders, including the Parsa MLA, Chandrika Prasad Rai, make introductory speeches. Every time these speakers make an important point, Mr. Yadav, sitting in a corner of the stage, gestures to the crowd lifting his hand; note this point, is the unspoken message, and the crowd nods collectively.

The local leaders' speeches are over in about 15 minutes and the master raconteur takes over. The importance of the current elections is highlighted in typical "Laloo style." "This election is not about India's shine or about feeling good. It is about protecting the great institutions that built up our nation and preserving the progressive, secular values of the country. The BJP and the NDA have systematically tried to destroy these institutions and values during their regime. The poor, the minority communities and the downtrodden people cannot take this any more. We have to throw them out." The explanation ends in the slogan, "Lathi Utthavan, Tel Pilaavan, Baajpa bhaghaavan (Take your lathis, oil them well and chase the BJP out of Bihar)."

His opponent in Chapra and Union Minister, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, is the next target. "He (Mr. Rudy ) says I am corrupt, but have I ever taken your money and gone to Goa to eat chicken curry that costs Rs. 2.50 lakhs a plate?"

The question is an obvious reference to allegations about Mr. Rudy's New Year bash in Goa with his family. By now, the crowd is rolling over with laughter; the "mass entertainer" "has once again driven his point home."

The concluding parts of the speech are the highlight of the performance. Mr. Yadav calls for a model of the electronic voting machine (EVM) and starts explaining how to vote. "This is the voting machine, and on the third line you can see the name of Laloo Prasad. The next column has our [RJD] symbol, lantern, and after that you can see a switch resembling a harmonium key. To vote, you have to press on this switch till it says `phe'. Don't keep on pressing it after it shouts `phe', for then it will be like wringing its neck." More cheers erupt from the crowd.

Talking to The Hindu later, Mr. Yadav says the voting lesson is important. "Lots of our voters are illiterate, they get bamboozled by these machines. I hold this class all over the State."

The meeting soon ends and it is time for the road show. It begins at Darihara, approximately 15 km from Parsa and covers about 30 km to end at Sonepur.

It takes more than six hours to travel to Sonepur. It is not only the poor condition of the roads that delays the journey; people have gathered in hundreds at every nook and corner to greet their leader.

The `Laloo Rath,' used for the road show, is air-conditioned but does not have fancy communication gadgets. Mr. Yadav sits next to the driver munching peanuts and chewing paan and addresses the crowd from the vehicle. The last meeting on the stretch is scheduled to go on till well past midnight, but Mr. Yadav firmly refuses to make speeches after 10 p.m. But he does show the EVM at every gathering; the voting lesson has to go on.

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