NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTION 99
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

The Rediff Interview/ Laloo Prasad Yadav

'Bihar was never on the road to progress, so where is the question of me putting it in reverse gear!'

Even those who are interested in your politics wonder why you act funny? On one hand you are acting like an ullu (idiot), and on other side you keep winning a game in which others have written you off. You are baffling urban India. Your impressive victory proves that you are not what you are trying to project yourself to be, right?

I don't want to give people any tension. I like to relax them. My wrong image is the result of the efforts of those people who don't want me to rule Bihar. After all , who is Hema Malini? Shatrughan Sinha is only a well-known villain, but Laloo is a joker! People who don't want to see power in my hands are tarnishing my image thus.

In spite of there being hardly any progress, people are voting you to power. Can you explain this?

This is the game of the Opposition, raising slogans and anti-slogans. All of you who are living in urban India, please, come to Bihar, I'll explain to you the problems there.

I have not been ruling Bihar since the last 50 years. I have been here for the last 10 years only. Bihar was never on the road to progress, so where is the question of me putting it in reverse gear! Those who are projecting a wrong image of me don't know the facts. Do they know anything about the performance of the central government vis-à-vis Bihar? Credit ratio, investment, power, roads, take any sector or measure, we are ignored by Delhi. We are rich in minerals, so the Centre came with the regulation act to take away our Lakshmi (wealth). Since the beginning the Centre has been taking away our Lakshmi and we are left with liabilities.

But still, you had 10 years to prove....?

To prove anything I need infrastructure. Do you understand this? We are surrounded by many difficulties. Every year we are facing floods. Water logging is the biggest problem that is keeping us backward. You have no idea of floods here. Flood water aadmi ko chir ke chala jata hai.

There are thousands of fargi (bogus) colleges in Bihar. People who ruled before me started them. Unke bapdada ke naam se hai. We are forced to take them over because the managements have swindled the government education funds. Now, if the teachers of these colleges are not paid, I get a bad name. In Bihar the education mafia exists.

There are so many absentee NRIs running these colleges. I can't take over these colleges. The state government is spending two-thirds of its budget on establishments, so where is the money for development?

Who will form the next government?

Can anyone form the Bihar sarkar except Laloo Yadav?

But senior Congress leader in Bihar, R P Singh said his party will not support you. So who are your supporters?

Is he my master? Who is he? Char number ke thokar ka aadmi hai (he is a man worth kicking four times). Am I in power because of the blessings of such people?

But even communist leader Ansari has said they will never support you.

Deviji, you are far away in Bombay, you don't know the character of these people. What is the worth of Ansari, after all? His tenure in the Rajya Sabha is about to end. You people don't understand the undercurrents. Anyway, I am not worried. Laloo ko koi chinta nahin.

Have you spoken to Sonia Gandhi?

No.

It seems they are worried and hesitating.

If not me, will the Congress support the RSS?

There is a possibility of the Samata Party heading the new combination.

No. The people are not foolish. Who is the Samata? It is with the BJP. You can't change the roles in Patna and Delhi. The BJP is sending Nitish Kumar to Patna as an Opposition leader because they want his portfolio in Delhi. The BJP wants maal (booty) in Delhi.

If Nitish comes to Bihar that will finish off Sushil kumar Mody. Woh khatam ho jayega.

So are you ready to become the chief minister?

Who told you this?

If your party is called upon to form the next government, Rabri Devi will have to vacate a seat for you. Isn't it unfair?

The voters are with us. Why should she resign? Rabri Devi will be the chief minister. I am saying so. Is there any difference between her and me?

How would you sum up her tenure as CM?

She is the daughter of a Yadav, don't forget that. Yadavon ki beti darti nahin. Don't underestimate her. She doesn't belongs to the city, she is a daughter of the village, that's why she keeps a respectful distance. But if you provoke her she is capable of showing her real self.

If you come to power, what will be your first action?

I will destroy all the coffee houses of Delhi. Wahan hi jungle hai! The Rediff Interviews

Tell us what you think of this interview