Lalu’s Idea of Penning Memoir on Advani Draws Flak

RJD supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav’s plan to pen down his memoir on the circumstances that resulted in senior BJP leader LK Advani’s arrest during Rath Yatra, has triggered sharp reaction with his adversaries urging him to rather concentrate on his work.

“We should talk of Bihar’s development now and take up with the Centre our demand for according special state status to Bihar refraining from petty politics,” said JD(U) national spokesman Shivanand Tiwari on Wednesday.

Tiwari urged that it would be better if Prasad concentrated on his work rather than engaging in an exercise which would be a futile one.

“It is not a new chapter… the matter has become very old and Prasad has spoken of writing a book on the rath yatra episode on several occasions in the past,” the JD(U) leader said.

On Monday, while addressing Pasmanda Muslim Conference in Patna, Lalu had revealed his plans to write a book on the incidents that led to the demolition of Babri Mosque in 1992.

He had further said that he had to have a hard time handling the situation arising out of the demolition when he was chief minister of Bihar.

“I had to bear tremendous pressure from several bigwigs in executing my decision to arrest L K Advani during his ‘Rath Yatra’ in Bihar before the demolition,” he said.

However, even RJD insiders and some close aides of Prasad, said on the condition of anonymity that they believe Lalu’s plan would backfire on his as he was in a state of “dilemma” on the issue of stopping Advani’s rath yatra and getting the BJP leader arrested when he was chief minister.

“Prasad, who emerged as one playing an anti-communal card, had once disagreed to our sugegstions to get Advani’s rath stopped in Dhanbad, now now in Jharkhand, before it reached North Bihar to avoid communal problems,” they claim.

Prasad was Bihar’s Chief Minister at that time. “The former Chief Minister (Prasad) buckled under pressure from a group of people who were his political mentors who prevailed upon him to take the extreme step of stopping the rath yatra and arresting Advani to dump the latter at a guest house at Masanjore hill in Jharkhand,” a senior RJD leader confides.

“And then Lalu’s luck shone as he acquired the stature of an important leader in state and national politics,” he says.

Earlier, Prasad had also spoken of penning a book about “involving him in false and forged” cases related to the multi-crore rupees fodder scam in which he had already been chargesheeted.