4 times Tejashwi Yadav made a mockery of himself and Jungle Raj

May 10

"Gaya's Road rage incident culprit arrested within 2 days by Bihar Police. BJP ruled states & Centre's Delhi Police should learn."

"The BJP and media supported by the party are advertising the Gaya incident in a way as if it is a rare and first incident of road rage".

May 11

"A single road rage incident in Bihar earns for itself the moniker 'jungle raj' but the maximum number of road rage incidents occur in Delhi, why isn't that jungle raaj?"

"People who level allegations of 'Jungle Raj' in Bihar, I ask them what is 'Jungle Raj'."

May 12

"Those who defame Bihar must see National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and decide which state tops the crime chart."

May 13

"Who pressurised the Delhi police to issue arms license to Rocky without proper verification. The Government of India must clarify."

***

These are but a few statements made by the youth icon of the Rashtriya Janata Dal, deputy chief minister of Bihar, Tejaswi Yadav, on different media platforms in the past few days. But what made him so furious? Why does he seem so upset? Let us look at the facts.

A 19-year-old student, Aditya Sachdeva, was driving to his home in Bihar's Gaya city. When he overtook an MUV on his way, its enraged driver, Rocky Yadav, allegedly shot him dead.

Rocky's mother, Manorama Devi, was an MLC from the ruling JDU till the incident was reported. She has since been suspended from the party. Tejaswi Yadav's RJD runs the Bihar government in alliance with Nitish Kumar's JDU.

This murder not only got massive coverage in the national media, but also found space in the international media. Most of these reports suggested that the incident is a classic example of the state's notorious Jungle Raj. Perhaps, this narrative of the media infuriated young Tejaswi Yadav.

In essence, the deputy CM raised four main issues, which must be countered:

1. Bihar Police acted efficiently

When Tejaswi says that the Bihar Police acted efficiently and others should learn from it, he is partially correct. Yes, the alleged culprit was arrested within two days, but his mother, a member of the ruling party, is still on the run. And policing is not one only about arresting criminals, but also about prevention of crime. And the Bihar police failed on this crucial front. Sample some data on crime in the state.

Does Tejaswi want this dismal record to be imitated by the BJP-ruled states, as well as the Centre-controlled Delhi Police?

2. Why call it Jungle Raj? What is Jungle Raj? Tejaswi seems to have a very serious problem with his party's rule being dubbed as "Jungle Raj" and wants to know what exactly the term means.

Jungle Raj is usually referred to as a criminalised nexus of politicians, government officials, businessmen and criminals. And this nexus is always responsible for overt and/or covert intimidation, which may at times even be violent.

Rocky Yadav's actions are a classic manifestation of this state of affairs.

On August 6, 1997, a division bench of the Patna High Court orally observed that there was no state government worth the name and Jungle Raj prevailed in Bihar. At the time, Tejswi's mother Rabri Devi was the state's chief minister.

While addressing an election rally at Ambika Bigha village in Nawada district in February 2000, Rabri Devi had said: "Kehta hai jungle raj hain. Haan hai. Jungle mein ek raja hota hai aur sab kuch thik thak rahta hai. (They say that there is Jungle Raj. Yes there is. In a jungle, one king lords over all and everything remains alright.)"

Tejaswi's mother seems to have felt proud of being associated with the epithet. Why then does he have such an aversion to it?

3. Why blame Bihar when similar cases happen in BJP-ruled states?

Tejaswi also says that Bihar is unnecessarily targeted when crimes of this nature take place in other states, even those ruled by the BJP. No one denies it. But if Tejaswi's state is as good as the others, why boast that "Bihar Me Bahar Hai Jab Se Nitish Kumar Hai?"

How is Bihar any different? This argument could lead to an analogy between Lalu Yadav and Bangaru Laxman - if the RJD chief was convicted for corruption, so was Laxman, the former president of the BJP. Is there no difference between the BJP and the RJD?

4. The BJP sponsored section of media is running a sustained campaign against Bihar?

When media does stories against the BJP, they freely abuse it. When the Aam Aadmi Party is caught on the wrong foot, they dub news outfits as paid media. Toeing the same line, Tejaswi has called those covering this story BJP-sponsored. Is he saying that Vyapam was not covered by the media? Can he identify any media house that hasn't covered the Jat agitation and the alleged Murthal rapes in BJP-ruled Haryana?

Is Tejaswi saying that there was no coverage of the Patel agitation in Gujarat? As long as people like Tejaswi, AAP and the BJP or even the Congress continue criticising the media, it is doing its job.

And if Tejaswi thinks that the incident got extensive coverage as opposed to what a murder deserves, then again he is wrong. This was not just a road rage case, it was an incident where a spoilt brat, running high on the muscle, money and political clout of his parents killed an innocent teen. So the level of coverage is justified.

I think Tejaswi's questions stand answered, but he may not be intelligent enough to grab their essence and that is the real loss in Bihar. It has a deputy CM who thinks he can defend an indefensible act of murder. While the case alone may not prove that there is Jungle Raj in the state, it certainly proves that Tejaswi Yadav is not smart at all.