Of Sons, Fathers, And Politics: Tejashwi Yadav Goes Akhilesh’s Way In Rebranding His Party

Recently, a seemingly routine announcement by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) put question marks on whether Tejashwi Yadav will take his father Lalu Prasad Yadav’s legacy forward.

Tejashwi will begin a new yatra called ‘Karyakarta Samvad Yatra’ on 10 September. As the name suggests, the yatra is designed to bridge the communication (samvad) gap between the party's top brass and cadre (karyakarta).

However, one of the instructions issued by the party for the yatra can have a harmful effect on cadres’ morale. RJD has asked its workers to avoid wearing the trademark green gamcha during the yatra. Instead, they have been asked to wear a green cap and the party’s badge.

The decision came within days of Prashant Kishor attacking Tejashwi’s new yatra. Kishor taunted that the yatra will be more focused on generating video bytes. “He will wear muretha (the round cap made by folding the gamcha), abuse a few people, and that’s it,” Kishor said.

The RJD-Gamcha Link

Kishor's comment rekindled old memories associated with RJD’s gamcha. While the green colour indicates RJD’s tilt towards the Muslim vote, it's a different matter for the general public.

Throughout the 1990s, a green gamcha on the road signalled ‘get in the house’ for most Biharis. Whenever people associated with RJD in some way were up to mischief, the green gamcha seemed to provide the authority to do so.

Wearing it symbolised that the person is probably close to the most powerful family in the state (the Lalu Yadav family). With time, even the young RJD cadres started donning the gamcha during any kind of show of physical and/or mental aggression.

Gamcha-clad cadres riding bikes was a thing. Besides causing daily discomfort in civil life, they tended to engage in extortionist activities.

Now, of course, RJD will say that all of them weren't RJD cadre. However, the gamcha’s association with rowdiness is not something RJD can deny.

The party's rallies like ‘tel pilawan lathi ghumavan (Swing a stick by applying oil to it)' — semantically a clear call to violence — witnessed thousands wearing the green gamcha, reinforcing the fear it imposed.

In 2021, Lalu Yadav instructed cadres to continue wearing it and even declared it a ‘licence’ for entry into the party.

But Tejashwi seems to be taking a different approach. Parting ways from his father’s ways, the junior Yadav wants his party to dilute its association with the gamcha, arguably due to how it's perceived, as detailed earlier in this piece.

This seems to be a long-term strategy for Tejashwi, who is keen to remove the stains of the infamous 'jungle raj' from the party. In the process, he is undoing some measures and strategies adopted by his father in the past.

Tejashwi's Detour From Father's Ways

The junior Yadav showed his intent of moving on from Lalu’s legacy for the first time in the 2020 assembly election, when Lalu was not visible on the party’s posters and banners. The son then took steps towards introducing diversity in the party.

One of the more significant initiatives in this regard has been his emphasis on getting Savarna votes. In recent years, RJD has given considerable space to Savarna leaders.

Currently, eight districts-in-charge of RJD belong to Savarnas — four from the Bhumihar community and two each from the Rajput and Brahmin communities.

Even RJD state chief Jagadanand Singh belongs to the Rajput community. Manoj Jha, RJD's nationally renowned face, is Brahmin. Amarendra Singh, another Rajya Sabha member from RJD, is Bhumihar.

In a remarkable contrast, Lalu had once issued the ‘bhura baal saaf karo’ call to eliminate Savarnas.

Furthermore, Tejashwi intends to move on from the Muslim-Yadav (M-Y) vote bank established during Lalu’s time. In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, RJD gave 20 per cent of its seats to leaders of the Kurmi-Kushwaha community, which traditionally votes for whichever side Nitish Kumar is tilted.

The Yadav father-son divide was especially apparent on 4 September. A meeting was organised in the party’s Patna office for the yatra. Lalu was supposed to attend, but Tejashwi kept him away. Even on stage, the number of Yadav leaders has not been as many as one would expect at an RJD programme.

The internal feedback mechanism of RJD suggests that Tejashwi has been quite successful in his initiatives. On many seats, Savarnas (particularly Bhumihars) have voted in favour of RJD. Munna Shukla, the RJD candidate from Vaishali constituency, also belongs to this community.

Moreover, Kurmi-Kushwahas have also voted for RJD in the election, and it is now more than apparent that Tejashwi is trying to be on good terms with them.

Even Muslims and Yadavs are now looking for other options. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is ever ready to take Yadavs, while for Muslims, Jan Suraaj is emerging as a viable option.

Amidst all this, Lalu’s legacy risks being diluted.

Tejashwi In Akhilesh's Footsteps?

Tejashwi is on his way to becoming the second-biggest Yadav leader of North India who sidestepped his father's legacy. Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi Party (SP) chief and son of Mulayam Singh Yadav, has walked this path of diverging from the dad before Tejashwi.

After becoming chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in 2012, Akhilesh started to assert his dominance on SP. The father-son clash went public in the latter half of the 2010s, leading to separate factions led by father and son, both of whom claimed ownership of the party symbol, with Akhilesh ultimately winning it.

So far, unlike Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Yadav has not shown his discomfort in public, even as Tejashwi's strategy yields results.

The question is, will Tejashwi's change in course be wide enough to bring an end to haunting memories from RJD's past?