Lalu's big brother has his dreams on track

Fri, May 16 02:37 AM

In 2004, while talking of elected panchayat heads and their rising ambitions, Lalu Prasad Yadav narrated how brother Gulab Rai Yadav had come New Delhi for "treatment" and wanted a "small plane for a comfortable journey" back to the village. After all, why had little brother Lalu built that airstrip near his Phulwaria village if it wasn't for such worldly comforts?

So now that his brother is building a railway line between his ancestral Phulwaria village and Lalu's wife Rabri Devi's Salar Kela village in UP's Gopalgunj, one would have imagined him hopping on to the gravy train. Instead, Gulab Rai allegedly stalled the construction, demanding compensation for a piece of government land that the railways acquired. It's another matter that the land was "irregularly" settled in his wife's name.

When panchayat polls were held in the state after a gap of 23 years in 2000, this marginal farmer was elected the pramukh of Phulwaria block. Rai was declared victorious by a slender margin after three rounds of recounting-he had lost in the first two counts. This led critics to allege that his brother had played a role in his victory.

The elevation is said to have transformed the fortunes of Rai's family. "Soon he acquired a Bolero and after some time his single-storied house turned into a three-storied building," said a local leader.

Initially, it was Lalu's in-laws-his high-profile brothers-in-law Sadhu and Subhash-who allegedly reaped the benefits of power. For a long time, Lalu's brothers and their children led a humble life. In fact, they would openly accuse their powerful brother of favouring only his brothers-in-law while neglecting his siblings.

It was only after 2000 that Lalu's four brothers seemed satisfied with his attention. Among the brothers, however, it was Gulab Rai who is said to have got the biggest slice of fortunes. Local villagers in Phulwaria say of the four brothers, only Gulab Yadav prospered.

In the panchayat polls of 2005, when the Phulwaria panchayat samiti seat was reserved for women, Gopal Rai, like brother Lalu, pulled out his wife Kunti Devi and got her to contest. Rai later fielded her for the block pramukh election, a post he held. But she lost.

Now Rai has landed in a spot over the land for which he is demanding compensation. According to rules, "gair-majurua" land (government land) should be settled in favour of a 'landless person' who is an SC, ST or OBC: Annexure I category (i.e. Extremely Backward). But Gulab Yadav belongs to the 'OBC: Annexure II' category. He allegedly got district authorities to term him a landless person and got the land settled in his favour. It is likely that the allotment of the government land in his wife's name would be cancelled and this time, there's very little brother Lalu can do about it.

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