Lalu Prasad Yadav

Lalu Prasad Yadav (born 11 June 1948) is a politician from Bihar, India.He was the Minister of Railways from 2004 to 2009 in the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, Chief Minister of Bihar from 1990 to 1997 and is the President of the Rashtriya Janata Dal political party. He was a Member of Parliament of 15th Lok Sabha from the Saran constituency in Bihar

He entered politics during his student days at Patna University, and he was elected a member of the Lok Sabha in 1977 as a Janata Partycandidate. At the age of 29 he was one of its youngest members of Parliament.^[6] Yadav became Chief Minister of Bihar in 1990 but resigned in 1997 following escalating corruption charges relating to the Fodder Scam. From 1997 to 2005, with brief interruptions, his wife Rabri Devi was the Chief Minister. Her political opponents often accused her as having served as his "surrogate."^[7] His tenure as Chief Minister of the state has been criticized for lawlessness and has been termed as the Jungle Raj.

Early life

Yadav was born in Phulwaria, Bihar. His father's name is Kundan Rai and mother's name Marachhiya Devi. He is the 2nd of his parent's six sons. He attended a local middle school before moving to Patna with his elder brother. He studied Bachelor of Laws and a Master in Political Science from B. N. College, Patna University. After graduation, he got a job as clerk in Bihar Veterinary College, Patna where his elder brother also worked as a peon. He turned down Patna University's Honorary Doctorate in 2004

Student politics and early career

Yadav entered in student politics as General Secretary of the Patna University Students' Union (PUSU) in 1970 and became its president in 1973.In 1974, he joined Bihar Movement, a student movement led by Jai Prakash Narayan (JP) against rising prices, corruption and unemployment. PUSU formed Bihar Chhatra Sangharsh Samiti to spearhead the agitation with Lalu Prasad Yadav as its president. During the movement Yadav came close to JP and was nominated as Janata Party candidate during 1977 Lok Sabha election from Chapra. Janata Party formed the first non-Congress government in the history of the Republic of India and at the age of 29, Yadav became one of the youngest members of the Indian Parliament at that time. Due to continuous in-fighting and ideological differences Janata Party government fell and parliament was dissolved leading to a re-election in 1980. Yadav lost the re-election in 1980. However he successfully contested Bihar state election in 1980 and became a member of Bihar Legislative Assembly. During the period, Yadav rose in hierarchy and was considered as one of the second-rung leaders. He was re-elected for Bihar assembly in 1985. After the death of ex-Chief Minister Karpuri Thakur, Yadav became the leader of opposition Bihar assembly in 1989. Same year, he was also elected for Lok Sabha under V. P. Singh government. By 1990, Yadav who represented single largest castes of Yadav with 11.7% of the state population, established himself as leader of lower castes.^[19] Muslims in Bihar on the other hand had traditionally served as a Congress (I) vote bank, but after the 1989 Bhagalpur violence, they shifted their loyalty to Yadav.^[20] In a span of 10 years, Yadav became a formidable force in Bihar State politics, known for his popularity among the Muslim and Yadav voters.

Chief Minister of Bihar

In 1990, Janta party came to power in Bihar. PM V. P. Singh wanted former Chief Minister Ram Sundar Das to lead the government. and Chandra Shekhar backed Raghunath Jha. To break deadlock deputy PM Devi Lal nominated Yadav as CM candidate. Yadav was victorious in an internal poll of Janta Party MLS's and became the Chief Minister. On 23 September 1990, Yadav arrested L K Advani at Samastipur during later's rath yatra to Ayodhya and presented himself as a secular leader. The World Bank lauded his party for its work in the 1990s on the economic front. In 1993, Yadav adopted a pro-English policy and pushed for the re-introduction of English as a language in school curriculum, contrary to the angrezi hatao (banish English) policy of then Uttar Pradesh CM Mulayam Singh Yadav, another Yadav and caste based politician. Policy of opposition to English was considered an anti-elite policy since both the Yadav leaders represented Dalit and minority communities. With the help of Yadav-Muslim votes, Lalu continued to be Bihar CM.^[15] In the Fodder Scam, Central Bureau of Investigation(CBI) issued an arrest warrant for Yadav, and he had to resign from CM's post. Subsequently he installed his wife Rabri Devi as Bihar CM.

Rashtriya Janata Dal

Due to allegation related to Fodder Scam, a leadership revolt surfaced in Janta Party. Yadav broke away from Janta Party and formed a new political party Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in 5 July 1997,. According to Limca Book of Records, in 2004 he was the longest serving president of an Indian political party. Except a brief President rule and 8 days term of Nitish Kumar, RJD remained in power in Bihar till 2005. In November 2005 state elections RJD won 54 seats putting less than both Janata Dal United (JDU) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Nitish Kumar led coalition, consisting of JD(U) and BJP, came to power. In the 2010 elections, the RJD tally was reduced to just 22 seats whereas the ruling alliance claimed a record 206 out of the 243 Assembly seats.

Railway Minister of India

In 2004, Yadav contested general election from Chapra and Madhepura against Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Sharad Yadav respectively and won from both the seats.^[30] In total, RJD won 21 seats and it allied with Indian National Congress becoming 2nd largest member of UPA I after Congress. Yadav became the railway minister in the 2004 UPA Government. Later, he gave up the Madhepura seat.

As railway minister, Yadav banned plastic cups from being used to serve tea at railway stations and replaced those with kulhars (earthen cups), in order to generate more employment in rural areas.Later, he also said that he had plans to introduce buttermilk and khādī. In June 2004, he announced that he would get on the railway himself to inspect its problems and went on to board the Patna railway station at midnight.

When he took over, the Indian Railways was a loss-making organization. In the four years under his leadership, it made a cumulative total profit of Rs.250 billion (US $5.2 billion). His work in Railway Ministry was introduced as a case study by a prestigious Indian Management Institute. However, it has been alleged that the railway turnaround was a "cosmetic exercise".managed through fudging of accounts.

He left passenger fares untouched and found several other profitable sources of revenue for the Railways. He also improved on his first year's performance by stating a profit of 140 billion with decreased freight and unchanged passenger fares in 2006. Then, in the 2007 Railway Budget, he increased the profit level to 200 billion with the introduction of cushion seats in all unreserved compartments. In 2008,asd profits were ₹25000 crore (US$4.3 billion).