NDA revives 'jungle raj' attack against Lalu in Bihar poll campaign

Out of power for 23 years and in jail for the last three years, former chief minister Lalu Prasad is back into the live political discourse as the Bihar poll campaign reaches a crescendo ahead of voting scheduled for next week.

Reviving the 'jungle raj' attack, the BJP which was a partner in the NDA governments that ruled the state for more than 13 of the 15 years after Lalu's wife Rabri Devi demitted office in October 2015, sought to revive the memories of alleged lawlessness during the RJD regime.

On Monday it came out with an alphabetical attack on Lalu Raj, coining Hindi words from Hindi letters that painted a grim picture of misrule during Lalu's term.

Read: From 'Laluwaad' to 'Lahori', Bihar poll campaign picks up

"A horrifying dictionary was made in the tenure of Lalu Prasad in the nineties—Ka for Crime, Kha for Khatra (danger) Ga for Goli (bullet). Do you remember? Ra for Rangdari (Extortion) Ja for Jungleraj from and Dadadagiri (goondaism). People of Bihar neither have to know about this dictionary or read about it," BJP's official handle tweeted.

The three and half minute video by the BJP refers to don-turned-politicians Ritlal Yadav and Mohammed Shahabuddin, who became lawmakers from RJD and how the police had lost control over crime, the Charwaha Vidyalaya concept when Prasad was Chief Minister and also the infamous fodder scam in which Prasad had to go to jail.

Also Read: Bihar polls: Nitish Kumar continues bashing Lalu Yadav

"Gha se Ghotala (scam), Chara Ghotala, Cha for Charwaha Vidyalaya, a lollipop in education, Ta for Tender, Tha for Thekedari (contract), Da for Dar (fear), Ta for Tejab (acid), Dha for Dhamaki (Threat), Pa for Palayan (Migration, Ba for Bam (bomb) Ma for Murder, Na for Nark," the video goes on, seeking to deepen the message of misrule during Lalu regime. It ends with the allegation that Tejashwi and Tejpratap are following Lalu's footsteps.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, in an election rally on Monday, recalled how wife (Rabari) was made the chief minister when the husband (Lalu) was in jail. On Sunday in their joint election rally, both Nitish and BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi explained how NDA government "brought an end to jungle raj", reeling out data to support their claims.

On Sunday, BJP released a video qawwali theme song recalling to people the "horrors of Jungle Raj" and telling them it may come back not only through RJD even through the Congress party, now an ally of RJD.

Read: They may start their own business in name of giving jobs: Nitish Kumar's dig at Tejashwi's employment promise

Lalu Prasad was CM of Bihar from March 1990 to July 1997 after his wife Rabari Devi took over and continued till October 2005.

The pattern has been the same in other states too. In all Assembly polls since 2005 in Bihar, NDA's key plank was the misrule of Lalu. In Madhya Pradesh, it raked up the memory of 'cities going without power and ditches in city roads' allegedly during the chief ministership of Digvijaya Singh in assembly polls of 2013 as well as 2018 in Madhya Pradesh, while Singh has been out of power since 2003.