Making his mark as LoP, Tejashwi takes middle stage in Bihar politics

Tejashwi Prasad Yadav appears to have made his mark each inside and outdoors the Bihar Assembly.

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Tejashwi, who turned the LoP in 2017 after the RJD-JD(U)’s “grand alliance” break up, has come a good distance as a pacesetter since. He turned the LoP once more after the 2020 state meeting polls, by which he single-handedly helmed the RJD-led alliance’s marketing campaign, with the RJD rising as the only largest celebration with 75 seats and its alliance bagging 110 seats.

Tejashwi has developed right into a extra achieved chief for the reason that 2020 polls. He involves the Assembly after doing his homework, making ready himself with info, information and backgrounder on numerous points. While elevating them within the House, he laces his speeches with anecdotes and people tales to make them sharper and extra fascinating. He now not fights shy of Nitish and senior ministers resembling Bijendra Prasad Yadav, Vijay Kumar Choudhary and Syed Shahnawaz Hussain within the Assembly.

Last Monday, in unprecedented scenes within the House, Nitish and Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha sparred over the standing of probes into some law-and-order-related circumstances from Lakhisarai, Sinha’s constituency, which was perceived as a end result of political postings between the ruling alliance companions.

Just a number of days earlier than the heated change between the CM and the Speaker, Tejashwi had raked up the problem of alleged police high-handedness in Lakhisarai over prohibition, telling the Speaker, “Not to talk of an MLA, you, the Speaker and custodian of this House, is not being heard. A thanedar (police station in-charge) is not listening to you. What can be worse than this for democracy?” Following the CM-Speaker spat, it was RJD MLAs, who stood first by the Speaker and kept demanding an apology from the CM for having allegedly “questioned the Speaker’s authority” within the House.

During the Assembly’s ongoing price range session, Tejashwi, whereas taking part within the movement of thanks on the Governor’s tackle on 2 March, started his speech with a narrative that includes the legendary satirist Mullah Nasruddin in his bid to make a distinction between the claims of “good governance “ made in the Governor’s address and the “actual reality of missing governance”. Driving residence his level, he requested, “Agar vikas hua to Bihar me itni berojgari kyon hai, agar vikas hua, NITI Aayog ki report me Bihar fisaddi kyon hai?… (If Bihar made so much progress, why is there such huge unemployment in the state; if there is development, why is Bihar ranked at the bottom among states in the NITI Aayog report?)”.

Right initially of this session, Tejashwi, whereas attacking the BJP’s Bisfi MLA Hari Bhushan Thakur for his remarks calling for stripping Muslims of their voting rights, questioned Nitish’s “silence” over the row. “There is an MLA of Nitish Kumar’s BJP, who talks about taking away voting rights of Muslims. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians have equally contributed to India’s Independence, however not the RSS…This is similar Bihar the place LK Advani was arrested. The sentinels of Lalu Prasad (RJD founder and Tejashwi’s father) are there to safeguard secularism. No one can take away rights of Muslims. But what surprises me is the CM’s silence. Despite his claims for having secular credentials, he (Nitish) has stored mum. He used to inform us that RSS is harmful. Now, such issues are taking place proper below his nostril,” he mentioned.

In his 2 March speech, Tejashwi known as the BJP-JD(U) alliance “opportunist”, highlighting its “inherent contradictions”. “JD(U) national president Lalan Singh says his party’s alliance with BJP has been driven by circumstances. BJP MLA Gopal Mandal accuses a JD(U) MLA of selling liquor by using a tractor. And BJP state president Sanjay Jaiswal says the government has not been able to rein in liquor mafia,” mentioned Tejashwi, including that he would communicate every thing primarily based on info and analysis.

On 9 March, exterior the Assembly, the LoP castigated the federal government on the problem of rural unemployment. “Bihar rural development department minister Shravan Kumar said in reply to a question that during 2021-22, a total of 62.9 lakh people had demanded work under MNREGA and 61.97 lakh people got it. But when we cross-checked the data on the MNREGA website, we found that out of 94.66 lakh people seeking work, 45.67 lakh people got it and out of this number only 14,590 people got 100-day work. I called RDD secretary Arvind Kumar Choudhary to confirm if the data I saw was correct and he confirmed it…It seems if bureaucrats will some day say sky is pink, ministers would echo that too.”

In latest months, Tejashwi has additionally sought to play a task in bigger Opposition politics on the nationwide degree. He has reached out to prime leaders within the Opposition camp, together with Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, Samajwadi Party president and ex-UP CM Akhilesh Yadav, and former Union minister Sharad Yadav, amongst others. He has additionally maintained that the Congress ought to lead the pan-national Opposition alliance.

In Bihar his celebration lately suffered a setback with Lalu’s conviction within the fifth fodder rip-off case, whilst Tejashwi claimed the “people’s court” nonetheless backed the RJD. What appears to be nonetheless holding him again is his celebration being centered on Muslim-Yadav (MY) politics and the non-Yadav OBCs’ perceived reservation towards “another spell of Yadavs’ political dominance in the state”.

RJD nationwide spokesperson Subodh Mehta instructed The Indian Express: “Tejashwi Prasad Yadav has emerged as a rational leader and a pragmatic idealist. He has been doing a lot of research before delivering any speech. As for MY politics, every party has its core votes but an analysis of our ticket distribution in the 2020 polls would show how we have tried to give representation to all sections of society. The CM’s absence from the House during most of the LoP’s speeches in the current session is a good enough indication of the government with its selective data being wary of him.”