Lalu asks Dalits to cast their caste
Saubhadra Chatterji / Kolkata/ Sonpur October 27, 2010, 0:40 IST
A loyal supporter offers him a chair at an impromptu meeting in
Ballitola village. He refuses it aggressively, hurls a mouthful at the
poor soul, pushing him aside.
Desperate to return to the 'gaddi' (chair) of the Chief Minister, Lalu
Prasad is not ready to settle for anything less - least of all a red
plastic chair in a village in Sonpur!
"I don't have time to sit. I have come to you to say I am going to
become the chief minister again. But you have to vote. Only shouting
Zindabad won't work. Remember, I have come to you after attending 11
public rallies today," he addresses the crowd in a commanding voice.
This is vintage Lalu - the Yadav chieftain on the mission to mobilize
his vote bank in the Yadav-dominated areas after the first two phases
of polling witnessed a high turnout. Scores of men and women greet him
with lanterns in hand as Prasad's convoy roams inside the villages and
stops to talk to them after every 50 meters. The former CM is
self-assured and can afford to be angry here. At Sabbalpur village,
his supporters got into a brawl with each other to get Prasad to
another venue for an impromptu rally which Prasad refused.
Just an hour ago, on view is a different Lalu Prasad: He gets down
from his Toyota Qualis and walks into Ambedkar Nagar village off the
highway, a departure from his scheduled tour programme.
This is a Dalit-dominated village and Prasad needs to woo them back.
He was the undisputed king of Dalits and other backward castes once.
Today, Nitish Kumar is in power with their support and has coined the
term Mahadalit to appeal to the caste equations.
The village, bereft of electricity, falls under Sonpur assembly
constituency where Lalu's wife Rabri Devi is contesting. Under a sky
lit only by the moon, Lalu Yadav addresses the Dalits in front of a
mud hut, with two supporters each holding a lantern and a torch.
"Ensure not a single vote is wasted. Rabri Devi needs to win. All your
problems will disappear," he says.
In his own caste bastion, Lalu Prasad is still the king of hearts.
"Whatever grudges we have against him are gone, now that Laluji has
visited our village," say villager in places like Rahar Diara,
Jaitiya, Shahpur Diara. In his public rally at Parsa Village of Saran,
the crafty politician stokes this caste pride: "Lalu made the
backwards sit on the chairs. You used to take on the SPs and DMs. Now,
you can't even enter government offices. You have to salute officers
now. As Lalu has become weak, there is no one to ask about Biharis in
Delhi and Mumbai," the CM says as the crowd roars.
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