Subaltern Saheb: Bihar and the Making of Laloo Yadav

by Sankarshan Thakur

The updated biography of a man who will be news as long as he lives laloo yadav has ruled bihar, first as chief minister and, since a scam broke five years ago, from prison via his illiterate (and reluctant) wife who replaced him, for fifteen years in the time he’s been around, he has overhauled the landscape of bihar, inverted the caste equation (he is what is known as a backward caste) and put the state through a period of jungle law and unimaginable corruption but he’s a complex character, and the personality we receive through tv is jolly and amusing and stridently anti-right wing–actually, he’s a master entertainer in only a way that a bihari who plays to the gallery can be, witty, unapologetically rustic and willing to be risqué on english news

Genres: Politics, India

224 pages, Hardcover

Published September 8, 2006

Reviews

[E.T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-rounded political biography of Laloo Yadav. It will amuse u, amaze u, pain u to read about the complete lack of governance in Bihar. Also, if u follow politics u will be amazed at how 'secular' liberals and politicians have supported and allied with this man despite his doings. An entire state was pushed back by a century if not more !
Ministers and Governors selling milk and poultry from their bungalows, ppl asking for roads told "where r your cars ?", ppl returning electric meters since they had to pay fixed rates despite having no electricity, dismal agriculture productivity despite having d most fertile soil and conditions in d country, i could go on and on...

[Ayush Kumar · Rating 4 out of 5]

यह किताब शायद एक तरीके की अधूरी बायोग्राफी है क्यों की ये किताब जिस समय काल को देखता है, इसके बाद भी लालू जी ने राजनीती में अपना दखल बरक़रार रखा है। किताब के न्यूट्रल स्टैंड पकडे रहने का पूरा प्रयास किया है और मेरे समझ से न्यूट्रैलिटी अंत तक बरक़रार रखा है। जिसको भी बिहार और लालू के बारे में जानना है वो इस किताब को जरूर उठाए, खास कर उनको को बिहार की सारी परेशानी का कारण लालू जी को मानते हैं। इस किताब में चीज़ो को काफी अच्छे से समेटा गया है जो तर्क को अच्छे से समझा पाए बिना किताब को लम्बा और बोझिल बनाई हुए। शायद subaltern इंग्लिश स्पीकर और रीडर के लिए इस किताब की इंग्लिश या कहे शब्दो का चयन थोड़ा कठिन है और पढ़ने के मज़े को बाधित करता है।

[Rajesh Mani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another author, another neutral opinion on the maverik Laloo.

[Tall Guy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book is not an biography and should not be considered as one.

Its just an insight on the person from an external view, the dynamics of politics in Bihar and talks about the rise and fall of Laloo.

It seems that the author was not very clear about what he wanted to write about and this hangs somewhere in the middle and one does not comes to more about the person.