Rashtriya Janata Dal chief and former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad recently joined hands with once arch-rival Nitish Kumar to improve his chances against a surging Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the forthcoming Bihar state elections. In an interview, 67-year-old Prasad, currently barred from contesting elections, talks about challenges in the state polls later this year, the alliance with the Janata Dal (United), his depleting Yadav voter base and the future of the Janata Parivar. Edited excerpts:

This is the 40th anniversary of the Emergency. When you look back, what are your thoughts?

People tell us to look back at the Emergency, but Lal Krishna Advani, the senior-most leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, has said that the Emergency can be imposed again and the present situation stinks of dictatorship. This is a statement of a leader whose party is in power right now. The Emergency was imposed and it went away; the people responsible for imposing it were punished by the people. The roots of democracy in our country are very strong; the Congress did not succeed after imposing the Emergency because people protested for their democratic rights. It was not only that the Congress party was punished, but even the Janata Party was punished because we came together and then we broke apart.

It was for the first time after independence that the Emergency was imposed, which had annoyed people. The democratic rights of the people were trampled, many leaders were in jail, even I was in jail.

The Bihar assembly poll will be a test for you because you cannot contest, but your party will fight the elections? How big is the challenge?

The present government came to power in Delhi because it successfully managed to blame the previous government and by giving false hopes to the people of the country. The BJP government has not even delivered on a single promise. It had promised jobs to youth; the government now wants to take away land from farmers by changing the land acquisition law, which has led to protests all over the country. The government had spoken about bringing down inflation, but the government has not been able to control the price rise. Service tax has been increased; the government has called for a meeting on 7 July to discuss the price rise situation in the country. The youth of the country are worried; there are 14-15 crore people in this country who do not get proper food everyday and they have to sleep hungry. Malnutrition is also a big problem, the education system is being destroyed. The government is now indulging in systematic failure of MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act); Indira Awas for homes of poor has been reduced; there is no output of the government. These are the main issues for the Bihar assembly elections. When the entire country is suffering, how can Bihar remain untouched.

There are strong differences within the BJP, and the situation is so serious that it can implode any moment. There are elections in Bihar, but elections happen all through the 12 months of the year. We have formed an alliance; the BJP also has an alliance. There will be a coalition government in the country for a very long time.

What will be the big issues that will define the Bihar elections? What will be the role of governance and aspirations in this election?

This is no challenge for me or for my party. Even during the Lok Sabha elections, people were aware that I was convicted, I cannot contest election, and the case is pending now. It is because of the legal norms that I cannot contest and people are aware of this situation. We won seven seats during the general election and got more than 1.08 crore votes. The challenge is not to let the country fall apart, not to let it be communalized, and this is the biggest challenge. When these people start to fail, they start dividing the country. Now when the government is unable to give results, they have started remembering Lord Rama of Ayodhya. They keep saying that a temple will be built soon; the fascists and communal forces are trying to divide the country. They want to destroy the basic fundamentals of the country. Nobody is happy with this government; people who voted for this government are regretting their decision now.

During the Lok Sabha elections, it was witnessed that your core voter base, the Yadavs and Muslims, got divided. Why will the Yadavs vote for you or your party when you are not even in the race for the chief ministerial post. How will you keep them intact?

The BJP will try to break my vote bank; it will even spend money to do that, but my vote bank is not like a mango orchard where they can come and loot all the mangoes. My vote bank is strong and it will not break. My voters and supporters are political and they will not betray their values. Even if some Mir Jafar deserts me, my supporters will not be concerned about such people. We throw away people who desert us. My vote bank is on the basis of social justice and communal harmony; the situation now is not like it was before the 1990s; times have changed, people are more aware now, and they understand all the situations.

Why did you align with Nitish Kumar, a person you have opposed for nearly two decades? Do you fear that it will be difficult for you to convince your supporters to work with him?

Yes, we have had our share of differences, but it is a fact that we had started together, and then we parted ways. But now we are again together. There are no differences between Nitish Kumar and me. There are differences in society also, so there will be some differences.

But we have to face communal forces, so we will overlook minor issues or so-called differences. We have to defeat communal forces and keep the country intact. We have to think about how poverty and unemployment will be reduced; there is no discussion of education; there is only a blame game among each other; it is like a political kabaddi. This will not help the country.

Since the government came to power, there has been not a single day when a meaningful debate has been organized. Educated youth are unable to find jobs; even people who have completed an MBA do not have jobs; they had thought that they will get jobs. Youth used to say before the elections that good days will come, mummy, we will get jobs, price rise will be controlled, corruption will get reduced. People had hoped that government will bring back black money from Swiss banks and distribute ₹ 15 lakh to everyone. These people have cheated the people of the country. People have now realized and they will punish them now.

Why did you join the Janata Parivar? Is it because of the fear of the BJP after the Lok Sabha elections or a desperate attempt to regain political clout?

Why have they formed an alliance in the first place? Why are they trying to break other political parties? Why will we be worried? If they are not worried, then why did the BJP form an alliance. These are issues which do not matter. There are problems within the Janata Parivar. It’s been more than two months, but a seat-sharing arrangement has not happened till now, there is no formal name of the alliance, no party symbol. Why are these being delayed?

These decisions have not been taken yet. It will get decided at a later stage. Our alliance is concentrating on the alliance in Bihar, assembly elections, seat sharing. We will campaign together so that both parties win.

What is the future of the Janata Parivar in the country? This experiment has failed in the past. What is the future of such an alliance that has little presence in the Lok Sabha and in most states?

These experiments continue to happen; earlier it was the Janata Party. During the Emergency, when all parties came together, they had formed the Janata Party and contested elections. It fell apart because people were not ready to work with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. It is such a big country, people come together when ideologies meet. It is the beauty of democracy that new political parties and alliances are formed, and sometime parties lose their support base.

You recently remarked that you had to consume poison to accept Nitish Kumar as the chief ministerial candidate. Why did you accept the deal if it was so difficult?

These are false propaganda against me. I had said that even if I have to consume poison to destroy the BJP, I will do it. But they want to twist my statement and say that I had called Nitish Kumar poison. This is not correct.

Jiten Ram Manjhi and Pappu Yadav have both formed their own parties, and are likely to campaign against Nitish Kumar and you. How significant is the force to damage your electoral prospects?

These people have no standing before the people of Bihar. They are on the payroll of Amit Shah. The BJP president has given them money to say bad things about Lalu Prasad Yadav and all other leaders. It is being done so that they give tickets to some people and try to damage our vote base, but they will not succeed.

Is the Congress party an ally or a threat to you?

The Congress party is trying for a positive result and to strengthen the party network. My best wishes are with the Congress party. The Congress is an all-India party; it is an old party. Now Rahul Gandhi has come forward; he is trying to understand the country. It is a difficult country to understand. The people of the country are most important; they can dump a political party and make a king. He is a good boy.

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