The autobiography Drohkaal Ke Pathik details horse trading.
By Rajiv Theodore
NEW DELHI: Pappu Yadav is a colossus in all sense of the word. He is built like a sumo wrestler but only sports an unkempt beard. His large grubby fingers could make your palms disappear, if you dare to shake hands, that is. This large cloud of a man has made the most dreaded criminals in the bad lands of Bihar squeal and many would stub their beedis as his shadow looms. He is the darling of the politicians though and many of them who want to get a shot at the hot seat make a beeline to seek Yadav’s blessings.
Many murders, extortions and jail sentences later, Yadav is back in the news again – this time for a different reason: the criminal-politician has taken time off his dealings to write a book. The autobiography ‘Drohkaal Ke Pathik’ has all the ingredients that would make you sit up and wonder.
True to the author’s character, the contents of the book has begun making huge waves. There are startling evidences of horse trading in the Indian political landscape, with the book particularly training guns at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
A paragraph from the book is especially volatile. Savor this” “Once again began the exercise of manipulating MPs and persuading them… Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government had fallen after it failed the confidence motion by one vote. So, both the ruling UPA and the Opposition NDA were burning the midnight oil this time… Those days each MP was offered Rs. 40 crore by both Congress and BJP.
An obviously upset BJP rubbished the claim.
“Everyone in this country has the right to speak. Do you take him (Pappu Yadav) seriously? There have been a number of cases against him,’’ senior party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad reacted.
The book takes us through Pappu Yadav’s life and times and the 20 odd years that he spent ‘’politicking’’ in his own unique style, particularly in the Kosi region of Bihar.
Talking about the BJP led NDA government, he writes: “All the five MPs had decided to support the NDA government… What the MPs got in lieu of that support had to be bargained for… Anwarul Haque got an Accent car and Rs 1 crore; Nagmani got Rs 1 crore immediately with an assurance of a minister of state berth later, courtesy Sinha (Yashwant Sinha). PC Thomas also got MoS status. Haque and Sukhdev Paswan took money, and when Nagmani did not get the MoS (minister of state) post, he, too, was given money.”
Yadav’s genesis could be traced back to the days when he as a young lad roamed the tracts of Purnea, like just another illiterate rural youth looking for a livelihood. He latched on to anything that would give him easy money. He started by snatching money from rickshaw pullers and graduated to extorting in cash and kind from small shop-keepers. His actions came to the notice of local criminal Arjun Yadav who noticing the youngster’s “talent” soon took him in his fold.
Bihar, known for its caste-wars, soon saw an encounter between Arjun and a rival Rajput gang, where the former was shot dead. And like in true Bollywood style, Pappu swore revenge, took over the mantle of Arjun and entered the sanguine world of class wars of Bihar. Soon he became the don of Kosi region, the leader of Yadavs whose sizeable strength in numbers had the potential to change the course of any election battle.
Now there was no looking back. Pappu was wooed by politicians of all hues and by 2004 he won in four Lok Sabha Elections and an assembly seat. And in the 1990s when the fledgling Janata Dal was on the verge of capturing a majority in the state Pappu was instrumental in forcing some 11 independent MLAs to give support to Lalu Yadav to form the state government.
There was no stopping Pappu Yadav. He had become the undisputed king of Bihar. Given a free hand, there was no law or force that would stop the man. Kidnappings and extortions were now executed at will, businesses took flight. In fact, government helicopters were at his disposal which used to drop him home many times.
A legend was born with Pappu Yadav helping the poor in cash and kind. His close brushes with death had become folklore. He was in jail for allegedly killing a left leader. Early this year he quit the Janata Dal and knocked at the doors of the Congress Party. But the Court came in the way, for he was still serving the jail sentence and new rules forbidding anyone facing criminal charges to contest elections.
The Congress Party welcomed him however in a different way: Pappu’s tennis player wife Ranjita was taken into its fold.