Law Kumar Mishra
Patna, January 13
Former President of JDU and two times Union Minister Sharad Yadav died in a Gurugram hospital in political oblivion.
The 75-year-old Mandal Messiah who had promoted Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar in Janata Pariwar and central politics was deceived by both, he remained humiliated and hunted by both Lalu and Nitish.
Nitish Kumar had denied him re-nomination for Rajya Sabha and preferred his favourite civil servant, got him disqualified as he did not obey the “instructions” on ties with NDA in 2017. Subsequently, the veteran Socialist leader was evicted from his Tughlaq road bungalow that was allotted to him as MP.
Sharad Yadav could not get relief from Delhi High Court and he had to submit an undertaking before the Supreme Court bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud to leave the bungalow by May 31, 2022 and shifted to Chhatarpur as the bungalow was allotted to Union Minister Pashupati Paras.
During the anti-reservations agitations, slogans like “Bharat Mata Hum Sharminda hain, Sharad-Paswan jinda hai” were raised against them. He had to be disciplined by Chandrashekhar in Lok Sabha when Sharad, then an young member attempted to disrupt him in his speech and he was told in harsh words, “If you think, you are a goonda, come out of the House”.
He was elected to Lok Sabha from Jabalpur at the age of 25 years one month in a by-election as Jayaprakash Narayan nominated him as” People’s Candidate”. He represented Jabalpur(MP), Badaun(UP), Madhepura (Bihar) on Lok Sabha and Bihar in Rajya Sabha for total 11 times..
He entered Bihar politics in 1991 when he successfully contested the Lok Sabha elections from Madhepura, a Yadav dominated constituency defeating Anand Mohan Singh, now imprisoned with life term in Gopalganj DM murder case. He defeated Lalu Prasad twice from Madhepura and go defeated by him twice.
Shivavand Tiwary, Gautam Sagar Rana and Shyam Rajak, all RJD veterans recalled Lalu Prasad could become CM in 1991 because he put a proxy candidate against Ram Sundar Das, a dalit leader who was fielded by former PM, V P Singh, Sharad backed Lalu candidature saying “Ram Sundar Das may not handle Bihar”. He had obliged several young Bihar Janata Dal leaders with condemned army jeeps from Panagarh, said Rana, then president of Yuva Janata Dal.
He made to reunite the divided Janata Dal by announcing an imminent merger of JDU and RJD on January 15,2015. First Lalu backed out and then Nitish followed. His opposition to Nitish rejoining hands with BJP in 2017 led to major rift and Nitish expelled him from the party, disqualified from Rajya Sabha and finally from bungalow.
Sharad Yadav was known for his uncontrolled comments on his rivals. He used harsh, crude and foul languages against the then Chief Minister, Jeetan Ram Manjhi when Nitish had quit following poor show of JDU in the elections in 2015.Sharad Yadav commented” Manjhi is a Musahar, he has not gone to the school or college. How can he run the state.” Lok Janshakti Party filed a complaint under SC/ST(Prevention)Act against Sharad in Chief Judicial Mshistrate Court at Patna.
During the assembly election campaign at Fatuah,30 km from Patna, Sharad Yadav said about Rahul Gandhi, “Ganga mein Bhasm Kaar do inko (Immerse Rahul in the Ganga). When asked on his comments, he said “now, we have this young man who always rolls up his sleeves. Even Hand symbol be dumped into the Ganga flowing close to Fatuah town”.
He was not happy with the coverage of his election campaign and said, “I am also campaigning and addressing over a dozen public meetings daily, but my reports are dumped on inside pages with little space and Nitish who is campaigning on helicopter is getting front page with photos.” He had same grievance with the TV news reporters too.
When he enjoyed smooth relations with Nitish Kumar, he was allowed to stay in State Guest House opposite Raj Bhawan, but when fell from the grace of his follower, he was made to make his own arrangement for accommodation. He was left with few followers in his newly floated Loktantrik Janata Dal that later merged with the RJD.
As a tribute, his followers in JDU and RJD cancelled annual Chuda Dahi parties at Strand Road and Circular Road they had planned to host the Makar Sankranti feast.
