Lalu Prasad Yadav

Lalu Prasad Yadav (born 11 June 1948) is an Indian politician and president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

In 1970, Lalu entered in student politics as the general secretary of the Patna University Students' Union (PUSU), became its president in 1973, joined Jai Prakash Narayan' Bihar Movement in 1974 where he became sufficiently close to Janata Party (JP) leaders to become the Janta alliance's winning candidate in the 1977 Lok Sabha election from Chapra at the age of 29.

Lalu Prasad Yadav married Rabri Devi on 1 June 1973, in an arranged marriage, and they went on to have two sons and seven daughters.

Note: Rahul Yadav is son of Jitendra Yadav, former MLC from the Samajwadi Party.

Jitendra is the nephew of former MP D. P. Yadav.

He entered politics at Patna University as a student leader and in 1977 at the age of 29, was elected as the youngest member of the Lok Sabha for the Janata Party.

In 1979, the Janata Party government fell due to in-fighting.

The parliament was dissolved with new polls held in 1980.

Lalu quit Janta party to join the splinter group, Janta Party-S led by Raj Narain, only to lose the re-election in 1980.

He managed to win Bihar Legislative Assembly election later in 1980, and again in 1985 to become leader of opposition in Bihar assembly in 1989.

Later in 1989, he was also elected for Lok Sabha under V. P. Singh government.

Muslims, who had traditionally served as Congress (I) vote bank, shifted their support to Prasad after the 1989 Bhagalpur violence.

He became popular among the young voters of Bihar.

He is a former Chief Minister of Bihar (1990-1997), a former Railway Minister of India (2004-2009), and a former Member of Parliament (MP) of the Lok Sabha.

He became the Chief Minister of Bihar in 1990.

By 1990, he positioned himself as the leader of Yadav (11.7% of the Bihar's) and lower castes.

In 1990, Janata Dal came to power in Bihar.

PM V. P. Singh wanted former chief minister Ram Sundar Das to lead the government.

and Chandra Shekhar backed Raghunath Jha.

To break deadlock deputy PM Devi Lal nominated Prasad as CM candidate.

He was victorious in an internal poll of Janta Dal MLA's and became the chief minister.

On 23 September 1990, Prasad arrested L. K. Advani at Samastipur during the latter's Ram Rath Yatra to Ayodhya, which establish himself as a secular leader among the people of Bihar.

The World Bank lauded his party for its work in the 1990s on the economic front.

In 1993, Prasad adopted a pro-English policy and pushed for the re-introduction of English as a language in school curriculum, contrary to the angrezi hatao (banish English) policy of then Uttar Pradesh CM Mulayam Singh Yadav.

Policy of opposition to English was considered an anti-elite policy since both the Yadav leaders represented the same social constituents – the backward castes, dalits and minority communities.

With the mass support of people of Bihar, Lalu continued to be Bihar CM.

In 1997, due to allegation related to Fodder Scam, a leadership revolt surfaced in Janta Dal, consequently Lalu broke away from Janta Dal and formed a new political party Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

In 1998 general for 12th Lok Sabha Lalu won from Madhepura, but lost in 1999 general election to Sharad Yadav.

In 2000 Bihar Legislative Assembly election he won and remained in opposition.

In 2002, Lalu was elected in Rajya Sabha where he stayed until 2004.

In 2002, RJD formed the government with Rabri Devi as the CM. Except for brief President rule and 7 days term of Nitish Kumar, RJD remained in power in Bihar until 2005.

He turned down Patna University's Honorary Doctorate in 2004.

In May 2004, Lalu Yadav contested general election from Chhapra and Madhepura against Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Sharad Yadav respectively and won from both the seats with a huge margin with the great support and faith of people of Bihar.

His party came to power in 2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election in partnership with Nitish Kumar of JD(U).

This coalition ended when Nitish resigned and RJD was ousted, becoming the opposition party.

In 2020 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, RJD remained the single largest party in Bihar, and along with JDU in power, currently heading the government.

Lalu Yadav was convicted in the controversial Fodder Scam, and was serving a term until 17 April 2021, when he was granted bail from the High Court.

Lalu Prasad, second of his parents six sons, was born in Phulwariya village (on Gopalganj-Kushinagar highway NH-27) in Gopalganj district of Bihar to Kundan Ray and Marachhiya Devi, and attended a local middle school before moving to Patna with his elder brother.

After completing Bachelor of Laws and a M.A. in Political Science from B. N. College of Patna University, he worked as clerk in Bihar Veterinary College at Patna where his elder brother was also a peon.

Lalu Prasad belongs to Yadav agricultural caste.