Bihar’s political arch rivals, Lalu Prasad Yadav and Nitish Kumar, have taken to the unlikely route of employing poetry to describe their respective situations and attack each other, thus smartening their images a month before the state’s Assembly polls begin to decide their fate.
Buoyed by yet another RJD leader joining the ruling JD(U), party stalwart and chief minister Nitish Kumar on Wednesday turned the popular Jai Ho song into a scathing parody to present a future picture of a decadent Bihar under the leadership of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav in case he won the Assembly polls, scheduled between October 21 and November 20.
Trying his hand at poetry in response to Mr Yadav’s impromptu act of breaking into verse a couple of days ago, Mr Kumar, an engineer by training, regaled JD(U) leaders and journalists at the party office in Patna gathered to witness the induction of RJD general secretary Madan Sahni into the JD(U). Kumar, himself a former railway minister, nicknamed Mr Yadav “Kayapalat ka maharaja” and “Mr Turnaround” in direct references to Mr Yadav’s controversial but much-hyped successes as the railway minister.
“Jai ho, Kayapalatji ki jai ho/Jai ho, Railways ka kshay ho/Jai ho, Bihar me bhay ho/Atankraaj ki jai ho/Aur is liye Maharaj Kayapalatji ki jai ho (May victory embrace Mr Turnaround/May the Railways be ruined/May fear rule Bihar/May terrorism win/And therefore may the king of turnarounds win),” recited Mr Kumar, beaming with his success at making his lines rhyme. Mr Yadav, while speaking about the acute problem of allotting party tickets, had earlier said: “Dekh tamasha ticket ka/Dekh tamasha gaari ka — Bolero ka, Sumo ka / Sab khel ticket ka / Yeh ticket ban gaya hai maha dikkat (Look at the drama of getting and giving tickets/Look at the drama of vehicles like Bolero and Sumo/These are all games for party tickets/Tickets have become the cause of great pain).”
Mr Kumar’s Jai Ho parody evoked fierce attacks from RJD principal general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Ram Kripal Yadav. Retaliating in verse, he said: “Nitish Kumar ka bhrastachar ka jai ho/Ghar-ghar daru pahunchane ka jai ho/Bhookh se 500 logon ke marne ka jai ho/Musalmanon ko thagne ka jai ho/Nitish Kumar ke sushashan ka jai ho/Nitish Kumar ke jaane ka jai ho (Victory for Nitish Kumar regime’s corruption/Victory for bringing liquor to doorsteps/Victory for 500 people dying of hunger/Victory for cheating Muslims/Victory for Nitish Kumar’s so-called good governance/Victory for Nitish Kumar’s moment of exit).”