The return of Lalu – India Today

Jail, illness and the pandemic may have kept the septuagenarian RJD chief off the political stage, but he is back, energising his party’s cadre as well as the national Opposition alliance

Illustration by Siddhant Jumde

“Didn’t learn to be afraid, didn’t learn to bow out. Have fought, will fight, won’t be afraid of jail, and will come out a winner in the end.” These were the words that accompanied the Instagram reel that Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav posted of his father, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) patriarch Lalu Prasad Yadav, playing badminton at the indoor court of the Patna Secretariat on July 28. Wearing a loose-fitting polo shirt, sweatpants and slippers, the 75-year-old politician looked pleased as he first served, then followed it up with a delicate return, in the video.