After a gap of two months, there was real sense of jubilation in the RJD camp with the Supreme Court granting bail to the party supremo Lalu Prasad in the fodder scam case.
Former Bihar Chief Minister and Lalu’s wife Rabri Devi, along with hundreds of RJD workers and supporters, celebrated the moment of relief by distributing sweets.
A visibly relieved Rabri Devi expressed her happiness by welcoming the judgment and reposing her “full faith in the judiciary”.
Their son young Tejewasi was a little more effusive. He said it does not matter if Lalu cannot contest elections, he can at least campaign for the party.
“You have to understand Lalu is a concept in Bihar, he is not just a politician and there can be no replacement for him,” he said.
However, Rabri Devi was more cautious and used the occasion to reiterate the view that “Lalu ji is innocent and falsely implicated in the case”.
Making another rather interestingly political point, Rabri Devi said, she strongly feels that all secular parties should join hand against communal forces and that she “didn’t have any grudge against the Congress”.
She also made it known that her party even in the absence of Lalu Prasad remained united and became stronger.
Regarding the future role of Lalu, she said that despite being disqualified to contest elections he will be “our hero” and he “would perform the role of king maker”.
“Our main target in Bihar is the BJP. The JD(U) is nowhere in the race. Had Laluji been the CM of Bihar, Narendra Modi wouldn’t have been allowed to hold a rally in Patna.”
RJD MLA Bhai Dinesh who was seen distributing sweets on the state legislature premises after the grant of bail to Lalu Prasad, also went up to political opponents and even Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to share the ladoos, which were politely declined.
Jubilant RJD activists took out procession in many parts of Bihar and Jharkhand, smearing gulal on each other and bursting crackers. Lest the point is missed, RJD MLA Samrat Chaudhary said as much, “It’s a celebration time for all of us -- our leader is back.”
Senior JD(U) leader and party MP Shivanand Tiwari said that he felt happy to hear the news of Lalu Prasad’s bail, but with a dig: “It’s a matter of right. Even dacoits and robbers get bail in our country so there is nothing to be surprised.”
On September 30 of this year, RJD supremo along with another former Bihar Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra and 43 others which included JD(U) MP Jagdish Sharma were convicted by a Special CBI court in the one of the fodder scam cases.
The particular case involved fraudulent withdrawal of `37.7 crore from Chaibasa Treasury. Lalu Prasad was the Chief Minister of undivided Bihar when this took place.