“O, Poor, Frail Me”: Lalu Yadav’s Antics To Stay In AIIMS Are No Longer Funny

It is now a well-established Indian political trick for crooked politicians to seek hospitalisation as a way of avoiding jail. So, it is no surprise that a politician convicted several times over for his role in Bihar’s fodder scam had to be pushed screaming and shouting out of Delhi’s AIIMS yesterday (30 April).

Normally healthy politicians suddenly go weak and report medical symptoms when in jail – to about to head for it. In October 2014, Om Prakash Chautala, serving a 10-year jail sentence for his role in an illegal teacher appointments scam, got released on health grounds. But within days he was on the campaign trail for his party, the Indian National Lok Dal, which was then fighting the Haryana assembly elections. He was sent back when it was clear to everyone and his aunt that he was in rude good health, and the medical condition cited for his parole was non-existent.

That was Chautala at age 79. Now, a far younger Lalu Prasad Yadav, 69, is yelling blue murder for being sent out of the cosy confines of AIIMS, where Rahul Gandhi dropped in for a chat, no doubt to enquire about his health.

Consider the kind of nonsense pouted by Lalu Yadav and his party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal. NDTV quotes Lalu Yadav as saying, “This is unfair; it is a conspiracy to endanger Lalu Yadav's health. I am being shifted to a place where there are no facilities. It is a tough time, but I will face it.”

When you have no option, always play the victim card. Indian voters seem to have the milk of human kindness spilling out of them in torrents, it seems.

Just in case they didn’t get the message, Lalu Yadav added: “I want to apprise you that I suffer from heart disease, kidney infection, sugar and many illnesses. I have back pain and repeated bouts of dizziness. I have even fallen in the bathroom several times.”

Hasn’t he heard of wheelchairs and hand-rails? And if has been falling even in AIIMS bathrooms, can staying there some more time help?

One wonders if AIIMS doctors were unaware of these details. So, this is clearly for public consumption. And just in case you still didn’t get the message, Lalu Yadav added for good measure: "If my life is threatened by this decision (to discharge him from AIMMS), then you (AIIMS) will be held responsible." And his son Tejashwi claimed this was part of a conspiracy to kill his father.

Again, add loads of salt here. Lalu Yadav alive and in jail is a far better proposition for his political opponents than a Lalu Yadav dead. Given the average voter’s complete willingness to believe in vendetta stories, the last thing his opponents need is a martyr.

And it’s not as if he has no medical support in Jharkhand. He health will be regularly tracked by the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) in Ranchi.

Here’s what Lalu Yadav is really asking for. In Ranchi, he will not get the kind of national attention in hospital that admission to AIIMS gets him. This is what he is protesting about. He can’t do his politics in Ranchi jail.