Samosey mein aloo: why not Laloo?

Farzana –

I am not very familiar with the Indian political scene, that’s perhaps because I don’t take any interest in it and don’t read about it. But the mere title of this article of yours caught my attention (laughingly,) and I went through the article without skipping a beat (that’s a great compliment to you.) As usual, very well done. Loved your rooting for the underdog, especially the very last sentence.

Farzana, don’t be surprised if you encounter clueless Pakis with no idea/interest in Congress or Indian politics. Unless it has some Islamic/Muslim/Gujrati Violence in it, no one is going to bother to worry about Indian politics. Most Pakis know where Kashmir is and how many Indian Army soldiers are stationed there. Bihar is not exciting.

Having followed Indian politics for most my life, I find it sad that Bihar has become a Joke, and all the Sardarji jokes are now replaced by Laloo jokes. “Bihari” itself has become a commonly used Gali in India (it has been for a long time in Pakistan). The story of Bihar is a story of Caste, Crime, and Politics… in essence a plot for a Bollywood movie. The saddest part of it all is that at the time of Indian independence, Bihar had the best government. Bihari politics of today are like the politics of the Roman Empire. I find it quite intriguing.

A very good writeup.

Whenever I come across a news article on Laloo, I find myself going back to George Bernard Shaw`s observation:

``A reasonable man adapts himself to suit his environment. An unreasonable man persists in attempting to adapt his environment to suit himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.``

A good article but one correction. Harijan priests as well as women priests have been experimented as well as encouraged for quite some time before Laloo raj.

Also, it is easy to criticise the V.P.Singh govt for inaction during the rath yatra in hindsight, but back then very few thought the BJP would win any popular support. After all, it was party which won 5 seats in 1984, and whatever seats it won in 1989 was due to its alliance with the JD.

Maybe we will all learn something about Bihar politics.

Laloo`s main support is Yadav-Muslim. Yadav`s are OBC and not SC and infact there is a fair amount of Yadav-SC violence in Bihar too.

Ram Bilas Paswan is the true SC and that is where his support base lies in. The Paswan/Laloo battle is over Laloo trying to muscle in on Paswan`s SC constituency.

So the point is, Laloo is another player (albeit adept player) of caste politics, what makes him so different than Nitish Kumar, Paswan, Mayawati, et al?

Farzana,

Lalu (as he prefers to be called nowadays) personifies what ails Bihar. Many people consider him a joker of Indian political circus. But he is no joker but an astute politician how knows how his audience very well.

No, we don’t need Lalu and his inefficiencies. 15 years is a long time in Indian politics, only the communists of Waste Bengal have survived more than him. Nothing has been done during all these times. In is very convenient of him to blame the Center for “neglecting” Bihar all these years as he believes that state government is not responsible for governance and development. The only credit his gets is for preventing large scale communal riots, which is quite understandable as Muslim and Yadav are the two pillars supporting him.

Calling him a messiah of Dalits is like calling Mulayam as Baba Ambedkar. Lalu is not a Dalit leader, he is a Yadav. Worst crimes against Dalits are committed in the badlands of Bihar. Lalu has just replaced upper caste hegemony with Yadav hegemony. Only the power has transferred and in fact has been concentrated in the hands of near and dear ones of Yadavs.

Lalu did everything to stir the communal cauldron during last elections. And rightly so in cannot let the Muslim vote get divided between Congress, Paswan and him. The hurriedly conducted Godhra investigation by the railways was nothing but to prove his “secular” credentials and to remind the Muslims what could happen to them in his absence. Also, taking a leaf from Lalu, Paswan himself is buiding a Dalit-Muslim brotherhood.

With no Ram temple issue and BJP at centre, the issues that ordinary Bihari Muslim would care about is development and two square meals, which Lalu can will never be able to provide.

Lalu, funny or otherwise, is still a danger to the development of Bihar and India. He has made no secret of them when he said “Hum banonga P.M.”. Even during the tussle of government formation at the center his choice was to become The Home Minister!
The first few days of becoming the railway minister, saw a very big P.R. campaign. He personally returned home employees who were late to work. He made the officials weigh each and every transportation containers to prevent the defrauding of the railways. Once the tamasha was over, he is hardly seen in Rail Bhawan. He has been in Bihar on election duty for months, even though drawing salary as a Railway Minister.

A person thinking that six months of Presidents rule would bring back Bihar to normalcy after 15 year of misrule is living in a fool’s paradise. Especially when the Governor belongs to Congress that is dependent on Lalu for its survival.

Lalu’s legacy to Bihar would be decaying educational institutions, businessman who ran for their lives, nepotism/casteism to the highest degree and institutionalization of mafia/goonda raj.

After becoming Railway minister Lalu has ordered the railway travellers to drink tea/coffee in an earthern pot, has banned soft-drinks (?)

I think thats what was lacking for a safe, comfortable train journey.

Why doesn`t Lalu & family doesn`t drink in Kulhar themselves and why doesn`t his son drink butter milk when playing cricket rather than coca cola.

BTW, did you know that Lalu`s son recieved a state level (?) award for being a good athlete because he took part in some tournament. This sycophancy is the hallmark of Lalu rule.

there are several i will point later on.

Re: # 8

>>>>Why doesn`t Lalu & family doesn`t drink in Kulhar themselves<<<<

Netizon, Please tell me what is “Kulhar”?

Thanks.

#8

Also his daughter Misa, was ``topper`` in medical exams in Patna university. God help her patients!

read complete ``istory`` of Laloo family ``educashun`` at:

http://www.bihartimes.com/articles/nalin/laloo_ladla.html

mr axe,
kulhar is an earthen cup, used ..popularly used in UP-MP-Bihar etc in rural chaiwallah settings. since its not glazed, its porous and is a big source of poor hygine. mr laloo in his infinite wisdom wanted rest of indian railways food services to become (they are un-hyginic to begin with) as un-hyginic as a tea-shop in mugalsarai. imagine a railway minister trying to spread hepatitis and cholera throughout the vast indian railways network!

in conclusion, you may want to change you nick ;-)

Re: # 12

Jang.. Thank you. Are you suggesting that I drop 2 e`s from my name? In Lahore, they serve Kheer (pudding) in clay saucers, i think they are called Thekri.

Kulharee is right,... being a Paki i`m clueless about Indian politics. But the name does ring a bell. `Padmasharee Lalu Prasad Yadav` was an Indian movie my Desi grocery store wala handed over to me last week. I enjoyed watching it because it was very funny...and i loved the song `chirya` in it...:)

Re: # 12

“Kulhar...a big source of poor hygine” Okay, that explains it!

Re: # 9

Kulharee, KulhaR (`R` as in shola jo bhaRke) is the disposable earthenware pot for drinks. When your train passes through UP, Bihar etc. the tea at the stations is supplied in these KulhaRs. Here is a provocative she`r by Anand Narayan Mulla, featuring this word:

kya samajh sakte haiN ghaam`R, hiNdi aur Urdu ka farq
bhaNg ke kulhaR kidhar, sehba ke paimaane kahaaN

ghaamR=fools
sehba=wine