TEJASHWI YADAV
1. SOLUTIONS DON’T LIE IN RINGING TEMPLE BELLS: I’d first met the Yadav brothers during the November 2015 state polls where both were contesting their first election. Initially, the interview was scheduled to be a joint one, but Tej Pratap, bare-chested with ash smeared on his forehead, demurred saying he had to complete his prayers. Tejashwi, too, was impatient to be off on the day’s campaign but, clearly the more affable of the two, he allowed himself to be bullied into an interview which lasted 15 minutes, during which he denied that he was being shortlisted as his father’s heir apparent; reiterating that it didn’t really matter whom Lalu chose, whether it was Tej Bhai or Misa Didi as “we are all popular”. He then distributed green lanterns to my crew—since these happen to be the party’s symbol—along with cups of some rather milky tea before he left. Halfway through the interview, we’d heard the sounds of the conch blowing from Tej Pratap’s prayer room, so hoping that we could also catch him, we hung around the courtyard but in vain. In the meanwhile, we got a sneak peek at the family’s garage that had a gleaming BMW and a Honda Fireblade superbike. Both, I was told, were Tej Pratap’s rides. When I was interviewing Tejashwi for this book, I recalled my earlier meeting with the two brothers. Especially when I asked Tejashwi about his religious beliefs, for I noticed the absence of any religious threads on his wrists and certainly his forehead was not ash-smeared. He replied saying, “I am very practical, the way to God is through acche karam [good work] and not daily mandir ki ghanti [ringing bells in temples]. Bhagwaan bhi kehte hain worry about your work and not dekhawati stuff [Even God says worry about your work and don’t do all this to impress me].” Before I could slip in the next obvious question, he quickly added, “My brother is very religious. That’s okay too. I am not into day to day rituals like him, if you pray in your mind that’s ok. It depends on person to person. There is a God but I believe that ghanti bajane se sab kuch theek nahin hota [solutions don’t lie in ringing temple bells]. You have to work also.” 2. ON HIS ALLY RAHUL TEARING UP THE ORDINANCE THAT SHIELDED LALU: Tejashwi’s reply came with a slight smile. “How do you only relate the ordinance to my Dad? Does it matter in today’s India if he tore it or not? People should worry about the current situation, not whether he tore an ordinance or not. That was in the past. Worry about the now. We have to face it all together. Rahul is an alliance partner. Soniaji and my Dad had a very good relationship. Theek hai [It’s ok]. We are the NextGen and there are some things which I would hesitate to say in front of Soniaji, but not with Rahul. Sab theek hai [Everything is ok].”
The Contenders,