Two Stones, One Bird

Laloo is using Shahabuddin and others for gains, but who isn’t in Bihar?

Timing is important, be it cricket or politics. On November 5, Laloo Prasad Yadav gave a fine example of this. Two incidents put his troubled Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in the headlines everywhere in the media. Absconding party MP from Siwan, Mohammed Shahabuddin, was suddenly arrested. Before the news could sink in and its implications analysed, another RJD leader, Jaiprakash Narayan Yadav resigned as the Union Minister of State for Water Resources. Both had non-bailable warrants against them and were evading arrest. Both gave in on the eve of the last two phases of polling in Bihar.

Shahabuddin is wanted in over 30 criminal cases including murder, extortion and bank robbery. In August the Bihar police sounded a nation-wide alert against him. But the don mocked the State by appearing at will in various places, granting interviews, relishing tandoori chicken in a Mumbai restaurant, relaxing in the Corbett wilds, fixing dates for his own surrender, even appearing for a law exam in Muzaffarpur! He was everywhere, yet nowhere. Then, as if after a long sabbatical, he suddenly appeared at his 5, Bishwambhar Dass Road residence in Delhi for the police to arrest him. Conveniently, a Bihar police team was camped in Delhi for three days before his arrest.

The timing of Shahabuddin’s arrest could impact polling. Shahabuddin absconding is a slur on Laloo Yadav and the RJD. Shahabuddin in shackles could well produce some manner of sympathy among Muslims and upper castes (of Siwan) whose interests the don protects. Or so the RJD hopes. Such are the cynical methods of politics in Bihar.

As for Jaiprakash Narain Yadav, who had been evading arrest because he illegally had his brother and Jamui RJD candidate released from jail, the resignation is nothing but an attempt by the upa to blunt the Opposition attack both at the Centre and in Bihar.

With his moves on Shahabuddin and Jaiprakash, Laloo hopes to deny the NDA an opportunity to cash in on their misdemeanours. How it works, only the results will tell.