The diminished size of the Opposition in the House of the People seems even more denuded by the characteristic reticence of the Congress and the surliness of the Left. Amid this collective gloom, it is hard not to notice the unwavering enthusiasm of a rather striking couple — Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, Rashtriya Janata Dal MP from Madhepura, recently acquitted from a murder charge, and his whip-smart wife, Congress MP from Supaul, Ranjeet Ranjan.

The duo operate together, arriving at the start of the Question Hour, leaving only when the House is adjourned for the day. Ranjeet, a former table tennis champion who inexplicably fell for the quintessential Bihari muscleman, is proper to the extent of inviting praise from the master of political correctness, former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. And her male colleagues actually listen up when she says something.

Trinamool MP Sultan Ahmed had not quite bargained for the unexpected solidarity between Ranjeet and the Education Minister Smriti Irani when he was having a little fun at the latter’s expense. “Smritiji is the ideal daughter-in-law. I have watched all her serials, Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, she was good,” he chuckled when he was supposed to be asking a question on the mid-day meal scheme during the Question Hour on July 16. Even before the Speaker could say anything, Ranjeet was on her feet. “What is the meaning of mentioning all this here? What is he implying?” she said, as Sushmita Dev, MP from Silchar (Assam) joined forces with her.

Meanwhile, just when the BJP is beginning to flex its muscle in the House, it has met more than its match in Pappu Yadav’s bulk, albeit considerably reduced from his 175kg. From the very first session of the 16th Lok Sabha, it has been clear that nothing untoward from the treasury benches will slip past this giant.

And so it was when BJP’s Rajiv Pratap Rudy, fresh from his successful battle with Lalu Prasad Yadav’s wife Rabri Devi in Saran (Bihar), initiated the discussion on the President’s speech at the joint session in Parliament. Rudy was enjoying himself, darting barbs at the Aam Aadmi Party, the Congress and, of course, at Pappu Yadav’s parent party and his leader Lalu Prasad Yadav.

“…There is a state where when the chief minister is jailed for a crime, his wife becomes the chief minister. Then there is another chief minister who resigns and is sent to jail. Anything can happen in this country, we are a democracy, after all… I tell the truth as I see it. There are some people who should be behind bars, who should be locked up. But they are strutting about, doing politics, campaigning in elections,” Rudy said.

The reference, of course, was to Lalu Yadav who installed Rabri Devi in his stead when he was jailed in connection with the fodder scam and to Pappu Yadav as well. And it was not a slight the strongman from Madhepura was about to overlook.

“What is he saying?” Yadav was heard asking the Speaker. In the ensuing din, a silent threat was communicated. And when it comes from Pappu Yadav, a man once convicted and acquitted of murdering a CPI(M) legislator, a threat is never taken lightly. Despite his bravado, Rudy understands enough about his native state to ignore it. “I take it back,” he said. “It did actually concern you. But I take it back.”

From that moment on, the fledgling Opposition had found its torchbearer. Be it the debate on price rise or force-feeding a fasting Muslim during the Ramzan, Yadav forces a semblance of balance in a House tilted heavily in favour of the treasury benches.

So, when the unfailingly foul-mouthed Ramesh Bidhuri, BJP MP from south Delhi, charged into the well, mouthing curses at the Opposition, it was left to Pappu Yadav to fend him off. The occasion was the Opposition’s demand for a discussion on the issue of some Shiv Sena MPs force-feeding a fasting Muslim employee at the Maharashtra Sadan. Expletives and threats were exchanged but in the end, Bidhuri had to withdraw, and apologise. “We don’t approve of the conduct of our MP,” said Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu. “He will apologise to the House.” And he did.

Of course, no one thought of asking Pappu Yadav to follow Bidhuri’s lead.

Unlike many of his brethren from Bihar who are still licking their wounds from their respective parties’ electoral defeat, for Pappu Yadav, it is the beginning of a new life. The dreaded don was sentenced to life imprisonment in February 2008 for the murder of CPI(M) MP from Purnea Ajit Sarkar. The Patna High Court acquitted him last year. The ruling was followed by a spurt of assertions about Yadav’s innocence and efforts of an image makeover.

Not only has he turned an author, writing the rather audaciously titled Drohkal Ka Pathik (one who walked the path of rebellion), Yadav aspires to follow further studies and lists his profession as politics and ‘social service’. Wife Ranjeet, on her part, wants to work for women’s empowerment.

It helps, of course, if the Gandhian vision of politics as social service has a subliminal context of murder and mayhem. In the Hindi heartland, it conveys a seriousness of purpose.

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