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Sharad versus Laloo: The battle of the Yadavs in Madhepura

Shaji Joseph in Madhepura

The battle of Madhepura in Bihar has high stakes. On one side stands Janata Dal president and member of Parliament from Madhepura Sharad Yadav; on the other, Laloo Prasad Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal president, former chief minister of Bihar, and erstwhile friend of Sharad Yadav. The war of the Yadavs has suddenly turned the spotlight on Madhepura in north Bihar.

Like the electorate in this Yadav-dominated constituency, both Sharad and Laloo know very well that they have everything at stake in this battle. The winner will go on to become the custodian of the Yadavs, one of the largest communities in Bihar, while the loser will almost certainly be consigned to political oblivion.

Both Laloo and Sharad have begun wooing the Yadavs -- who comprise 35 per cent of the 1.1 million voters -- in earnest. Realising the strength of his rival, the JD president moves around in a hired helicopter, campaigning with gusto.

Addressing meetings in all the six assembly segments of the Madhepura constituency, Sharad has been making small dents into Laloo's vote bank. In his speeches, he does not often lambast Laloo. On the contrary, he appeals to "Madhepura's shalin (cultured folk)." His appeals are along the lines of socialism and the regional fight against inequity. As he makes a round of Madhepura, from where he won his last two elections to Parliament, he says, "I have nothing to say to my constituency. They know it all. And I don't need to defend my politics as I practice it for the people!"

Laloo is already playing on caste sentiments, hinting at an upper caste conspiracy which saw him lose the chief minister's chair. As he reached Madhepura, thousands of people, mostly from far-flung villages, poured in to welcome the man they consider an avatar of Krishna.

Most Yadavs are dismayed at the fratricidal battle. They admit that nobody ever wanted such a situation to occur, saying it is akin to choosing between two brothers. As one person put it succinctly, "Both were friends not long ago and now are sworn enemies, no Yadav is going to like it." The majority would like to have both men in Parliament. Incidentally, both Sharad and Laloo do not hail from Madhepura. The former is from Madhya Pradesh while Laloo's native district is Gopalganj, over 200 kilometres away.

Along with the Yadavs, the Harijans too are divided, with the Mushars subcaste unwilling to hear anything adverse against Laloo. More significantly, the election will test the validity of Laloo's newly envisaged Muslim-Yadav-Rajput winning combination. And though people flocked to Sharad's meetings, the fact remains that people still have a soft corner for Laloo, with the majority of Yadavs hailing him as their "saviour".

The non-Yadav, other backward castes, also referred to as Paanchpanis, along with the upper-caste Rajputs and Brahmins, hold the key to success, as the Yadav vote is expected to split.

There is another angle: the candidature of the Samata Party's N K Singh. If the Paanchpanis, Rajputs and Brahmins decide to throw in their lot with Singh, then this two-way battle will become triangular, making it much more difficult for the two Yadavs. Singh, a former Central Bureau of Investigation joint director, investigated the St Kitts forgery case until he ran foul of then prime minister Chandra Shekhar. His supporters describe him as the son of the soil, as he is a scion of the erstwhile Kumarkhand estate.

However, Samata Party general secretary Shivanand Tiwari, MLA, has asked N K Singh to withdraw from the fray and announced his intention to campaign for Sharad Yadav. The Samata Party is vehemently opposed to Laloo, and it would like to prevent the anti-RJP vote from being split at any cost.

The anti-Laloo vote have begun to polarise around Sharad and Singh. The latter, being a Rajput, will draw a majority of Rajput votes besides garnering the support of the other upper castes. If this happens, Laloo's new found love for the Rajputs will bear him no electoral fruits.

The Sharad and Laloo camps insist that as days go by, the contest will turn into a direct fight between them, making the contest too close to call. Laloo, of course, has the brand equity. As the Yadavs say, "Laloo is known to the children in Himachal, but is there any child in Bihar who knows who is the chief minister of Himachal?"

To his credit, Sharad has put in much effort for his constituency. The proof is number of iftars parties being hosted by Muslims for Sharad. The Muslims are also distancing themselves from Laloo, upset at his electoral pact with the Congress. The Ghoria and Nagar caste (Harijan) groups too have shown an open preference for Railways Minister Ram Vilas Paswan (also of the Janata Dal) which is likely to translate into votes for Sharad.

Laloo, in turn, emphasises his direct his role in providing Muslims with a political platform. In a bid to woo the most backward castes, who are likely to stand by Paswan, he has raised the caste bogey. He points to the hollowness of Paswan's claim in having successfully stopped the upper castes from deciding the fate of the MBCs, stressing that it is "still only the upper castes who dominate the panchayats (village councils) in the backward- and minority-dominated areas."

Madhepura covers six assembly seats. When the Rashtriya Janata Dal split from the Janata Dal last July, four of the six legislators stayed with the latter while two joined the former. A senior local leader and Rajya Sabha member Ramendra Kumar Yadav and the sitting MP from Saharsa, Dinesh Chandra Yadav, also retained their ties with the Janata Dal. The four Janata Dal MLAs of Madhepura are Majrauts -- the Yadav subgroup which is in a majority.

The battle will certainly be close. The question is not what has been achieved in the age of social justice, but "who will win?" And that boils down to personalities and the fighters in the ring who are using their wits, guile, and elan to convince the electorate.

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