Dear Reader,
Politics in Bihar has never been free from action-packed drama and even more powerful melodrama.
When the “bahubali” (muscleman) politician Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, once a terror in Seemanchal, broke into tears while addressing a rally last week, many people were amused. A social media post on X read “Pappu Yadav, you have been made a Pappu (fool).”
The BJP for a long time successfully ran a “Pappu” campaign against Rahul Gandhi, trying to project him as a dimwit, but that campaign seems to be losing steam. In February 2023, the Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that it was actually Rahul who had made a Pappu of the BJP. The vicious campaign to discredit Rahul, allegedly steered by the BJP’s IT Cell, got much social media traction at one time, but has since died down.
In Bihari dialect, Pappu is someone who can be fooled easily. Aur Pappu Pass Ho Gaya is a hilarious Bollywood comedy made in 2007, which features a song with the same line, sung by Abhijeet Bhattacharya and Alka Yagnik. The 2008 movie Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na, starring Aamir Khan’s nephew Imran Khan, had the hit song “Pappu can’t dance saala”. Another romantic comedy made in 2011 called Pappu Can’t Dance Saala starring Vinay Pathak and Neha Dhupia got critical acclaim for its sensitive portrayals and had Naseeruddin Shah in a supporting role.
But Rajesh Ranjan is no Pappu, and politics is no comedy. He filed his nomination as an independent candidate after the RJD did not yield to the Congress demand to give him a seat. The former Purnia MP addressed RJD supremo Lalu Prasad at a rally and said, “Aapne kaha batasha jaaye to jaaye, mandir nahin jaana chaahiye; Pappua khatam ho jaaye to jaaye, lallu bach jaana chahiye.” (You said the offering can be wasted, let the temple survive. Let Pappu be sacrificed, let your son survive). Earlier he had said, “I asked for just one seat and said if you have a problem with the Congress, I’ll join you, but allow me to contest from Purnia... I have waited and postponed my nomination thinking Lalu Yadav would bless me as a son... I am left with no other option.”
Don-turned-politician Pappu Yadav assiduously built a Robin Hood image for himself. In the 1990s his name used to send a shiver down the spine of residents. After becoming an MLA as an Independent candidate in 1990, the Madhepura-born Pappu Yadav never looked back. He became Lok Sabha MP from Purnia thrice—twice as an Independent and once on a Samajwadi Party ticket, despite the SP having no presence in Bihar. In the 1980s, Pappu Yadav was considered close to Lalu Prasad and won the Madhepura Lok Sabha seat on an RJD ticket in 2004 and again in 2014, defeating veteran Sharad Yadav from JD(U). In 2015, he grew distant from the RJD and his soured relationship with Tejashwi Yadav was suspected to be a reason. Pappu Yadav was convicted in 2008 for his involvement in the murder of CPI(M) leader Ajit Sarkar, a four-term MLA from Purnia between 1980 and 1998. Pappu Yadav was acquitted and released in 2013.
This time Pappu Yadav was hopeful of being fielded by the Congress as a Mahagathbandhan candidate, having merged his Jan Adhikar Party with the Congress on March 20. However, apparently determined not to allow any Yadav leader to consolidate power, the Lalu Prasad-Tejashwi Yadav combine did not give the seat to the Congress, instead fielding former JD(U) minister Bima Bharti. Pappu fumed, fretted, and was reduced to tears. He finally filed his nomination as Independent.
The cornered Congress had to go by coalition dharma and refused to back Pappu Yadav. The one man who sympathised with him was Lalu’s estranged brother-in-law Sadhu Yadav, who said Lalu had been unfair as Pappu had done hard work in Purnia. With Pappu determined to contest, RJD is now learnt to have knocked on the Congress doors for a joint Rahul Gandhi-Tejashwi Yadav rally to take the steam out of his campaign.
Earlier, Pappu Yadav had launched a “Pranam Purnia” (Salutation Purnia) campaign, making an impassioned plea that only his dead body would ever leave Purnia. As of now he stands a chance to queer the pitch of both the INDIA bloc candidate Bima Bharti as well as the NDA alliance’s Santosh Kushwaha, the sitting MP from JD(U).
It used to be said of Purnea district, which once recorded an epidemic of fever cases, that even a crow gets fever in Purnea! This time, it is election fever and the temperature is rising with each passing day.
Thank you for reading Poll Vault, our election-ready newsletter. Watch this space as campaign season heats up. Until then...
Anand Mishra | Political Editor, Frontline
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