Patna: People were left wondering after the state’s main opposition party, the RJD, headed by Lalu Prasad, broke the 36-year-old tradition of hosting an iftar party this time. Holding such parties has been central to RJD politics since Lalu first became the chief minister of Bihar in March 1990. However, quite surprisingly, the party stayed away from this politically significant event this year even as its rivals — JD(U), LJP (Ram Vilas) and HAM(S) — organised such gatherings.Although the party blamed it on Lalu’s poor health and his involvement in court cases, insiders said top party leaders were feeling severely depressed after the party’s humiliating defeat in last year’s assembly elections and the subsequent setback in the recent Rajya Sabha polls when its own Dhaka legislator Faisal Rahman did not vote. The absence of the RJD MLA, along with three legislators of the Congress, led to the defeat of lone opposition candidate A D Singh in the Rajya Sabha polls even though the opposition had the numbers to win.
“The RJD stands for secularism, social justice and socialism, and none should give lessons to us for not hosting the iftar party,” RJD spokesperson Shakti Singh Yadav said on Saturday. He added that Lalu’s poor health and his involvement in court cases prompted the party to temporarily stay away from the practice. “Those whose hands are stained with communalism should not lecture the RJD on secularism,” he said while ridiculing the NDA allies for questioning the party.The RJD responded after the BJP questioned it for breaking the decades-old tradition of hosting Iftar parties. “Only defeats in the elections and RJD’s Iftar parties are over now,” the BJP asked.On the surface, iftar parties may appear to be simple gatherings, but in practice they have often set the tone for changing political equations, potential alliances and even govt formations in the state. On several occasions, govts in the state changed after rivals came together at iftar parties, greeted each other warmly and shared sweets.One such incident that deserves special mention was the April 2022 iftar party hosted at the 10, Circular Road official residence of former chief minister Rabri Devi in Patna. The event was attended by NDA chief minister Nitish Kumar for the first time since 2017. Coincidentally, barely three months later, the NDA govt was replaced by the Grand Alliance govt in Bihar, bringing the RJD back to power.The significance of such parties in the state has been that they brought arch-rivals together on several occasions. Not only Nitish, even Chirag Paswan attended the event hosted by the RJD, setting aside bitterness and even touching the feet of Rabri Devi.“The RJD has been known for celebrating various festivals with enthusiasm. Sadly, it neither organised the chura-dahi feast (during Makar Sankranti), Holi Milan nor the iftar party this year… We are shocked, nothing like this happened in the past,” said a party worker, wishing not to be quoted. “The party organised the Iftar even when the RJD had only 22 MLAs at one point of time,” he said, adding, “Earlier when Lalu ji was active, he would listen to our advice and act on it but right now, there is none to listen to us,” he rued.Another party leader wondered about the way the party’s national working president Tejashwi Prasad Yadav has been outside the state most of the time or staying away from House proceedings. “It seems he is still to recover from the shocks of defeat. If such things continued further, the party workers and leaders would lose confidence,” he said, advising Tejashwi to turn “adversity into opportunities”.
