Lalu Prasad Yadav (born 11 June 1948) is an Indian politician who served as the chief minister of Bihar from 1990 to 1997, with a brief interruption in 1995, and as the union minister for Railways from 2004 to 2009. He is the founding president of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), a prominent political party in Bihar. He is also a former member of Parliament (MP) of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
His political rise in the 1990s marked a significant shift in Bihar's social and political landscape.
He entered politics at Patna University as a student leader and, in 1977, was elected as one of the youngest members of the Lok Sabha for the Bharatiya Lok Dal of the Janata Alliance. He became the chief minister of Bihar in 1990. His party came to power in the 2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election in coalition with Nitish Kumar of JD(U). However, the coalition ended when Nitish resigned and the RJD was ousted, becoming the opposition party.
In the 2020 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, the RJD remained the single largest party in Bihar. Later, after the JD(U) rejoined the Mahagathbandhan (MGB) in 2022, the RJD headed the government, but this alliance was short-lived as the JD(U) eventually returned to the NDA.
Lalu was convicted in the Fodder Scam and was serving a term until 17 April 2021, when he was granted bail by the High Court. He is disqualified from Office under the Section 8(3) of the Representation of the People Act till 6 years after his release. He is husband of former chief minister Rabri Devi and father of Tejaswini Yadav & Tej Pratap Yadav.
Lalu Prasad Yadav, the fifth of six sons born to Kundan Rai and Marachhiya Devi, was born on 11 June 1948, in Phulwaria village, situated along the Gopalganj-Kushinagar highway (NH-27) in Gopalganj district of Bihar. He started his education at a local middle school before moving to Patna with his older brother, Mukund Rai, who enrolled him in an upper primary school in Sheikhpura. After finishing his primary education there, he was enrolled in the Government Middle School located on the Bihar Military Police (BMP) campus, which was next to their quarters at the veterinary college campus.
The list of siblings is in order of age.
Lalu Prasad Yadav (himself only alive)
His father died after he completed his matriculation in 1965 from Miller High School in Patna, where he was also interested in football. He changed its name to Devipad Choudhary Shaheed Smarak (Miller) Ucchya Madhyamik Vidyalaya in honour of Devipad Choudhary, who was a freedom fighter and student of the same school. He was a NCC cadet there. According to his Lok Sabha affidavit, he obtained his I.A. (Arts) from B.N. College of Patna University the following year. However, it is noteworthy that B.N. College does not offer this course, and the program typically spans two years, yet he claims to have completed it in the same year he got enrolled there. After earning his Bachelor of Arts degree, he worked as a clerk at Bihar Veterinary College in Patna, where his eldest brother was employed as a peon. During his time there, he served as the general secretary of the Patna University Students' Union from 1970 to 1971 and later became its president from 1973 to 1974. He later earned his L.L.B. degree from Patna Law College in 1976. He turned down Patna University's Honorary Doctorate in 2004.
Lalu Prasad Yadav asserts that he belongs to the Yadav caste;
Lalu Prasad Yadav married Rabri Devi on 1 June 1973, in an arranged marriage, and they went on to have seven daughters and two sons.
The list of siblings is ordered by age:
Rohini Acharya – married to Samaresh Singh
Chanda Singh – married to Vikram Singh in 2006, a pilot in Indian Airlines
Ragini Yadav – married to Rahul Yadav, Samajwadi Party leader from Sarfabad in Noida
Hema Yadav – married to Vineet Yadav
Anushka Rao (Dhannu) – married to Chiranjeev Rao (son of Ajay Singh Yadav)
Tej Pratap Yadav – former Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister of Bihar