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Rashtriya Janata Dal

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The Rashtriya Janata Dal (abbreviated as RJD; translation: National People's Party) is an Indian political party, mainly based in the state of Bihar. The party was founded in 1997 by Lalu Prasad Yadav.[6][7]

Rashtriya Janata Dal
AbbreviationRJD
PresidentLalu Prasad Yadav
ChairmanTejashwi Yadav
Lok Sabha LeaderAbhay Kushwaha
Rajya Sabha LeaderPrem Chand Gupta
Founder
Founded5 July 1997 (27 years ago) (1997-07-05)
Split fromJanata Dal
Headquarters13, V. P. House, Rafi Marg, New Delhi, India-110001
Student wingChhatra Rashtriya Janata Dal
Youth wingYuva Rashtriya Janata Dal
Women's wingMahila Rashtriya Janata Dal
Ideology
Political positionLeft-wing[5][1]
Colours  Green
Slogan"Samaj Ka Bal, Rashtriya Janata Dal" "Bihar Ka Vishwas, Lalten Ka Prakash"
ECI StatusState party in Bihar
Alliance
Seats in Lok Sabha
4 / 543
Seats in Rajya Sabha
5 / 245
Seats in State Legislative Assemblies
List
Bihar Legislative Assembly
72 / 243

Jharkhand Legislative Assembly
1 / 81

Kerala Legislative Assembly
1 / 140
Seats in Bihar Legislative Council
14 / 75
Number of states and union territories in government
2 / 31
Election symbol
Party flag
Website
rjd.co.in

The party's support base has traditionally been Other Backward Classes, Dalits and Muslims and it is considered a political champion of the lower castes.[8] In 2008, RJD received the status of recognized national level party following its performance in north-eastern states.[9] RJD was derecognised as a national party on 30 July 2010.[10] Leading the Mahagathbandhan alliance with 105 MLAs, it is currently the official opposition in Bihar. RJD is part of Ruling Government in Jharkhand and Kerala with its allies in Mahagathbandhan (Jharkhand) and LDF respectively.[11]

History

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Formation

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RJD Women's wing office in Delhi

On 5 July 1997, Pappu Yadav, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Mohammad Shahabuddin, Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Kanti Singh, Mohammed Taslimuddin and Md Ali Ashraf Fatmi along with seventeen Lok Sabha MPs and eight Rajya Sabha MPs along with supporters gathered at New Delhi formed the new political party, Rashtriya Janata Dal. It was formed as breakaway of Janata Dal. Lalu Prasad was elected as the first president of RJD. It is a centre-left party.

In the March 1998 national elections, RJD won 17 Lok Sabha seats from Bihar but failed to make significant headway in any other state. Later that year, the party formed an alliance with Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party as an anti-Bharatiya Janata Party secular coalition but the coalition failed in garnering any widespread support.

In UPA

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In the October 1999 elections, RJD fought the election in alliance with Indian National Congress but lost 10 Lok Sabha seats including the seat of Lalu Prasad Yadav.

In the 2000 state elections, however, it performed well, winning a majority of the seats in the state assembly in Bihar. Continuing its upswing in electoral fortunes, the party won 24 Lok Sabha seats in the 2004 elections that it fought in alliance with Indian National Congress. It was a part of Indian National Congress led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) from 2004 - May 2009, wherein Lalu Yadav held the position of the Minister of Railways.

In February 2005 Bihar Legislative Assembly election RJD won only 75 seats and lost the power. In the state elections held later that year – as a result of no party being able to form a government and RJD continued its downward slide winning only 54 seats.

In 2009 Indian general election, the RJD broke its alliance from UPA when seat sharing talks failed. RJD formed its alliance with Ram Vilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party and Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party what the media has dubbed the "Fourth Front". RJD performed poorly and won just four seats, all of them in Bihar. However, in 2010 Assembly election, the RJD did not continue their alliance with Samajwadi Party.

In the 2014 Indian general election, RJD came back to UPA and contested election in alliance with Indian National Congress and Nationalist Congress Party in Bihar. Out of 40 seats in Bihar, RJD will contest on 27 seats, INC on 12 and NCP on one. RJD won only four out of total forty Loksabha seats in Bihar.[12][13][14][15][16]

Organisation

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The party leadership consists of the following bodies.

National President

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Lalu Prasad Yadav is the National President of RJD.

National Vice President

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The national vice president members of the party Mangani Lal Mandal, Mohammad Ilyas Hussain, Ahmed Ashfaq Karim, Rabri Devi, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Shivanand Tiwary and Mehboob Ali Kaiser

National Secretary general: Abdul Bari Siddiqui.

National Treasurer: Sunil Kumar Singh[17]

Political Affairs Committee

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National Executive Committee

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The national executive members of the party Lalu Prasad Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav, Tej Pratap Yadav, Misa Bharti, Prem Chandra Gupta, Manoj Jha, Abdul Bari Siddiqui and Ram Chandra Purve.[18]

The Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) in Bihar

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Main article: Mahagathbandhan (Bihar)

On 14 April 2015, the RJD, Janata Dal (United), Janata Dal (Secular), the Indian National Lok Dal, Samajwadi Party, and Samajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) announced that they would merge into a new national Janata Parivar alliance in order to oppose the BJP, thus breaking their long time alliance with the INC.[19] This would give the alliance 14 Lok Sabha seats and 30 Rajya Sabha seats.

On 7 May 2015, the RJD expelled Pappu Yadav for six years due to anti-RJD activities after speculation rose that he may join the Biju Janata Dal for the 2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election but he formed a new party called Jan Adhikar Party.[20]

In November 2015, RJD won the elections as party became the single largest party with 80 followed by Janata Dal (United) with 71 seats, BJP with 53 seats and Congress with 27 seats. In terms of vote share, BJP came first with 24.4%, followed by RJD with 18.4% and JD (U) with 16.8% and Congress got 6.7%. Janata Dal (United)'s Nitish Kumar became the Chief Minister and Lalu's son Tejashwi Yadav became the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar.

In July 2017, following the corruption cases against Tejashwi Yadav, Nitish Kumar asked Yadav to resign from the cabinet, which was refused by RJD. In order to protect his clean image towards corruption, Nitish Kumar resigned on 26 July 2017, ending RJD's stake in Bihar government. What followed next was a coalition BJP and JDU as a result Nitish Kumar became the Chief Minister again whereas Sushil Modi, a prominent BJP leader became the Deputy Chief Minister.[21][22][23]

Alliance between Indian National Congress and the RJD factioned in October 2021,[24][25] when Tejashwi gave tickets to candidates in Bihar By-elections,[26] where Congress was fixed to stand candidates.[27][28]

In August 2022, the Mahagathbandhan, Janata Dal (United), Indian National Congress, Hindustan Awam Morcha and Left Front joined again to form 2/3rd Majority government in Bihar Legislative Assembly.[29]

In January 2024, Nitish Kumar left the Mahagathbandhan once again and joined hands with the BJP. He later became the chief minister once again.

Controversies and criticism

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Mohammad Shahabuddin, a leader of RJD, has been involved in several criminal cases. Shahabuddin has been accused of several murders, be it of political rivals, or police officers. [30] Shahabuddin, through his lawyers, attempted to also intimidate the legal proceedings, which led to more criminal cases against him.[31]

During Lalu Prasad Yadav's tenure as Chief Minister, Bihar's law and order was at lowest,[32][33] kidnapping was on rise and private armies mushroomed.[34] He was also criticized by opposition in the Shilpi-Gautam Murder case and the death of his daughter Ragini Yadav's friend, Abhishek Mishra, in mysterious circumstances.[35][36]

An investigation in the land-for-jobs scam implicated Tejashwi Yadav and Rabri Devi, Lalu Prasad Yadav's son and wife, as well as in other corruption scandals.[37] Tejashwi Yadav allegedly threatened Central Bureau of Investigation agents who were investigating him in another corruption case.[38]

Electoral performance

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Lok Sabha elections

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Lok Sabha Term Indian
General election 		Seats
contested 		Seats
won 		Votes Polled % of
votes 		State (seats) Ref.
13th Lok Sabha 1999 61 7 10,150,492 2.79 Bihar (7) [39]
14th Lok Sabha 2004 42 24 9,384,147 2.4 Bihar (22) Jharkhand (2)
[39]
15th Lok Sabha 2009 44 4 5,280,084 1.3 Bihar (4)
[39]
16th Lok Sabha 2014 30 4 7,442,313 1.4 Bihar (4)
 [39]
17th Lok Sabha 2019 21 0 6,631,585 1.1 N/A [39]
18th Lok Sabha 2024 23 4 1,01,07,402 1.57 Bihar (4)

[40]

Bihar Vidhan Sabha (Lower House) Election

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Vidhan Sabha Term Assembly Elections Seats Contested Seats Won % of votes % of votes
in seats contested 		Party Votes Ref
11th Vidhan Sabha 2000 293 124 28.34 31.28 10,500,361 [41]
12th Vidhan Sabha 2005 February 210 71 25.07 28.35 6,140,223 [42]
13th Vidhan Sabha 2005 October 175 54 23.45 32.63 5,525,081 [43]
14th Vidhan Sabha 2010 168 22 18.84 27.31 5,475,656 [44]
15th Vidhan Sabha 2015 101 80 18.4 44.35 6,995,509 [45]
16th Vidhan Sabha 2020 144 75 23.11 38.96 9,738,855 [46]

Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha Election

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Vidhan Sabha Term Jharkhand Assembly Elections Seats Contested Seats Won % of votes Party Votes Ref
2nd Vidhan Sabha 2005 51 7 8.48 [47]
3rd Vidhan Sabha 2009 56 5 5.03 517,324 [48]
4th Vidhan Sabha 2014 19 0 3.13 133,815 [49]
5th Vidhan Sabha 2019 7 1 2.75 413,167 [50]

List of chief ministers

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Chief ministers

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No. Name Term in office Party Assembly (Election)
1 Lalu Prasad Yadav 10 March 1990 28 March 1995 5 years, 18 days Janata Dal Tenth Assembly
2 Lalu Prasad Yadav 4 April 1995 25 July 1997 2 years, 112 days Janata Dal Eleventh Assembly
3 Rabri Devi 25 July 1997 11 February 1999 1 year, 201 days Rashtriya Janata Dal Eleventh Assembly
4 Rabri Devi 9 March 1999 2 March 2000 359 days Rashtriya Janata Dal Eleventh Assembly
5 Rabri Devi 11 March 2000 6 March 2005 4 years, 360 days Rashtriya Janata Dal Twelfth Assembly

Deputy chief ministers

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No. Name Term in office Assembly (Election)
1. Tejashwi Yadav 26 November 2015 26 July 2017 1 year, 244 days 17th Bihar Assembly
2. Tejashwi Yadav 10 August 2022 28 January 2024 1 year, 171 days 18th Bihar Assembly

List of central ministers

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No. Photo Portfolio Name
(Birth–Death) 		Assumed office Left office Duration Constituency
(House) 		Prime Minister
1   Minister of Railways Lalu Prasad Yadav
(born 1948) 		23 May 2004 22 May 2009 4 years, 364 days Chapra
(Lok Sabha) 		Manmohan Singh
2   Minister of Company Affairs
[MoS(I/C)] 		Prem Chand Gupta
(born 1950) 		23 May 2004 29 Jan 2006 1 year, 251 days Bihar
(Rajya Sabha)
Minister of Company Affairs 29 Jan 2006 9 May 2007 1 year, 100 days
Minister of Corporate Affairs 9 May 2007 22 May 2009 2 years, 13 days
3   Minister of Rural Development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh
(1946–2020) 		23 May 2004 22 May 2009 4 years, 364 days Vaishali
(Lok Sabha)
4   Minister of Agriculture
(MoS) 		Akhilesh Prasad Singh
(born 1962) 		Motihari
(Lok Sabha)
Minister of Food and Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution
(MoS)
5   Minister of Water Resources
(MoS) 		Jay Prakash Narayan Yadav
(born 1954) 		23 May 2004 6 Nov 2005 1 year, 167 days Monghyr
(Lok Sabha)
24 Oct 2006 22 May 2009 2 years, 210 days
6   Minister of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises
(MoS) 		Kanti Singh
(born 1957) 		29 Jan 2006 6 Apr 2008 2 years, 68 days Arrah
(Lok Sabha)
Minister of Human Resource Development
(MoS) 		23 May 2004 29 Jan 2006 1 year, 251 days
Minister of Tourism
(MoS) 		6 Apr 2008 22 May 2009 1 year, 46 days
Minister of Culture
(MoS)
7   Minister of Human Resource Development
(MoS) 		Mohammad Ali Ashraf Fatmi
(born 1956) 		23 May 2004 22 May 2009 4 years, 364 days Darbhanga
(Lok Sabha)
8   Minister of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises
(MoS) 		Mohammed Taslimuddin
(1943–2017) 		23 May 2004 25 May 2004 2 days Kishanganj
(Lok Sabha)
Minister of Agriculture
(MoS) 		25 May 2004 22 May 2009 4 years, 362 days
Minister of Food and Civil Supplies, Consumer Affairs & Public Distribution
(MoS)

Prominent members

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b Singh, Prem (15 September 2020). "Raghuvansh Prasad Singh: A committed socialist". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 22 April 2023.
  2. ^ "With his populist rhetoric, Bihar CM Laloo Prasad Yadav emerges as a powerful leader". India Today. 15 July 1991. Retrieved 12 May 2024.
  3. ^ "Lalu Yadav secular champion".
  4. ^ "Lok Sabha Elections 2014: Know your party symbols!".
  5. ^ "From Lula to Lalu". 9 April 2019. The legal cases against Lalu Prasad Yadav and Lula da Silva along with their subsequent incarceration are glaring examples of how the issue of corruption is often used as a weapon by the right against popular centre-left political formations.
  6. ^ "Profile: Laloo Prasad Yadav". 18 December 2006. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  7. ^ "Lalu Prasad Yadav: The shrewd politician's highs and lows". Rediff. 30 September 2013. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  8. ^ Democracy against Development. South Asia Across the Disciplines. University of Chicago Press.
  9. ^ "RJD gets 'national' tag – India – The Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  10. ^ Balaji, J. (30 July 2010). "RJD-derecognised-as-national-party". The Hindu. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  11. ^ Jharkhand Legislative Assembly
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  25. ^ "खुल गई महागठबंधन की गांठ? बिहार उपचुनाव से पहले राजद-कांग्रेस में फूट की खबरों पर तेजस्वी यादव ने दी सफाई". Hindustan (in Hindi). Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  26. ^ श्री, निधि (October 2021). "Bihar News: उप चुनाव के लिए तारापुर और कुशेश्वरस्थान से NDA ने घोषित किया उम्मीदवार". ABP News (in Hindi). Retrieved 11 October 2021.
  27. ^ "बिहार: महागठबंधन में दरार! कांग्रेस ने उप चुनाव में RJD के खिलाफ उतारे उम्मीदवार". Aaj Tak (in Hindi). 5 October 2021. Retrieved 11 October 2021.
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  29. ^ "Nitish leaves ally BJP in the cold, claims support of 164 MLAs of seven Mahagathbandhan parties to form government".
  30. ^ Shahabuddin gets 10 years. Indian Express (31 August 2007). Retrieved on 2015-10-26.
  31. ^ "Court Orders FIR Against Siwan MP's Lawyer". Patna Daily. 30 July 2006. Archived from the original on 22 October 2008. Retrieved 16 March 2009.
  32. ^ Farz, Ahmed (10 June 2002). "Laloo Prasad Yadav's army of raiders ensures his daughter's wedding is not forgotten easily". India Today. Archived from the original on 3 January 2019. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  33. ^ Desai, Bharat (24 August 1998). "IAS officer's wife charges Laloo Prasad Yadav's associate with rape". India Today. Archived from the original on 28 April 2022. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  34. ^ Phadnis, Aditi (30 September 2013). "Lalu Prasad Yadav: From symbol of hope to ridicule". Business Standard. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
  35. ^ Kislaya (25 December 2006). "Opposition guns for Lalu Prasad Yadav in death of daughter's friend from BIT Ranchi". India Today. Archived from the original on 28 April 2022. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  36. ^ "जब पटना क एक गराज म मिली दो लाश और हिल गई थी बिहार की सरकार". Jansatta (in Hindi). 13 March 2022. Archived from the original on 14 March 2022. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  37. ^ "Land-for-jobs scam: CBI files fresh charge sheet against Lalu, Rabri; names Tejashwi for first time". The Economic Times. 4 July 2023.
  38. ^ "Tejashwi Had Threatened CBI, Nityanand Rai: Bihar BJP Chief". 18 September 2022.
  39. ^ a b c d e "PC: Party performance over elections – Rashtriya Janata Dal".
  40. ^ https://results.eci.gov.in/PcResultGenJune2024/partywisewinresultState-1420.htm [bare URL]
  41. ^ "ECI 2000 Election". Election Commission. 20 August 2018.
  42. ^ "Bihar Assembly Election Results in February 2005". Elections in India. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
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  44. ^ "Bihar Assembly Election Results in 2010". Elections in India. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  45. ^ "Bihar Assembly Election Results in 2015". Elections in India. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  46. ^ "Bihar election result 2020: Seat wise full list of winners". India Today. 11 November 2020. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  47. ^ "Jharkhand Assembly Election Results in 2005". elections.in. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  48. ^ "Jharkhand Assembly Election Results in 2009". elections.in. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  49. ^ "Jharkhand Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) Election Results 2014". elections.in. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  50. ^ "Jharkhand Assembly Election Results 2019 | Jharkhand Election 2019 Results – Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 18 January 2022.
  51. ^ "Rashtriya Janata Dal expels 3 MLAs for anti-party activities". Newsonair.com. Archived from the original on 14 September 2020. Retrieved 14 September 2020.
  52. ^ "Mohammad Shahabuddin: The Bahubali of Bihar is back". Indian Express. 15 September 2016.
  53. ^ Kumar, Anshuman (26 November 2019). "Jagdanand Singh becomes Bihar state president of Rashtriya Janata Dal". The Economic Times. Archived from the original on 2 July 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  54. ^ "राजापाकड़ विधानसभा सीट: JDU और RJD में कड़ी टक्कर, किसे खेमे में जाएगी जीत?". Aajtak. 30 September 2020. Retrieved 21 November 2020.
  55. ^ "LDF ally announces merger with RJD". Hindustan Times. 13 October 2023. Retrieved 17 October 2023.
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