Rashtriya Janata Dal | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | RJD |
| President | Lalu Prasad Yadav |
| Chairman | Tejashwi Yadav |
| Rajya Sabha Leader | Prem Chand Gupta |
| Lok Sabha Leader | Abhay Kushwaha |
| Founder | |
| Founded | 5 July 1997 (28 years ago) (1997-07-05) |
| Split from | Janata Dal |
| Headquarters | 13, V. P. House, Rafi Marg,New Delhi,India-110001 |
| Student wing | Chhatra Rashtriya Janata Dal |
| Youth wing | Yuva Rashtriya Janata Dal |
| Women's wing | Mahila Rashtriya Janata Dal |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Centre-left[4][1] |
| Colours | Green |
| Slogan | Samaj Ka Bal, Rashtriya Janata Dal Bihar Ka Vishwas, Lalten Ka Prakash |
| ECI Status | State party in Bihar |
| Alliance | National Alliance:
Regional Alliances:
Former Alliances
|
| Seats in Rajya Sabha | 5 / 245 |
| Seats in Lok Sabha | 4 / 543 |
| Seats in Bihar Legislative Council | 14 / 75 |
| Seats in State Legislative Assemblies | List Bihar Legislative Assembly 25 / 243 Jharkhand Legislative Assembly 4 / 81 Kerala Legislative Assembly 1 / 140 |
| Number of states and union territories in government | 2 / 31 |
| Election symbol | |
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| Party flag | |
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| Website | |
| rjd | |
TheRashtriya Janata Dal (RJD,lit. 'National People's Party') is an Indian political party, mainly based in the state ofBihar. The party was founded in 1997 byLalu Prasad Yadav.[5][6]
The party's support base has traditionally beenOther Backward Classes,Dalits andMuslims and it is considered a political champion of thelower castes.[7] In 2008, RJD received the status of recognized national level party following its performance in north-eastern states.[8] RJD was derecognised as a national party on 30 July 2010.[9] Leading theMahagathbandhan alliance with 35 MLAs, it is currently the official opposition inBihar. RJD is part ofRuling Government in Jharkhand andKerala with its allies inMahagathbandhan (Jharkhand) andLDF respectively.[10]
There was pressure on Lalu Prasad Yadav to resign from Chief minister post within and outside of Janata Dal following being chargesheeted in theFodder scam. On 5 July 1997,Pappu Yadav,Raghuvansh Prasad Singh,Mohammad Shahabuddin,Abdul Bari Siddiqui,Kanti Singh,Mohammed Taslimuddin andMd Ali Ashraf Fatmi along with seventeenLok Sabha MPs and eightRajya Sabha MPs along with supporters gathered atNew Delhi formed the new political party,Rashtriya Janata Dal. It was formed as breakaway ofJanata Dal. Lalu Prasad was elected as the first president of RJD. It is a centre-left party.[11]
With demands for his resignation continuing to mount, on 25 July, Lalu resigned from his position, but was able to install his wife,Rabri Devi as the new chief minister on the same day.
In the March 1998 national elections, RJD won 17Lok Sabha seats fromBihar but failed to make significant headway in any other state. Later that year, the party formed an alliance withMulayam Singh Yadav'sSamajwadi Party as an anti-Bharatiya Janata Party secular coalition but the coalition failed in garnering any widespread support, and the party won only 7 seats in 1999 national elections.
In the October 1999 elections, RJD fought the election in alliance withIndian National Congress but lost 10 Lok Sabha seats including the seat ofLalu Prasad Yadav.
In the2000 Bihar election, however, it performed well, winning most of the seats in the state assembly. It gained majority by forming post poll alliance with Congress and agreeing for bifurcation of the state. Continuing its upswing in electoral fortunes, the party won 24 Lok Sabha seats in the 2004 elections that it fought in alliance withIndian National Congress. It was a part ofIndian National Congress ledUnited Progressive Alliance (UPA) from 2004 - May 2009, wherein Lalu Yadav held the position of theMinister of Railways.
In February 2005Bihar Legislative Assembly election RJD won only 75 seats and lost the power. In the state elections held later that year – as a result of no party being able to form a government and RJD continued its downward slide winning only 54 seats.
In2009 Indian general election, the RJD broke its alliance from UPA when seat sharing talks failed. RJD formed its alliance withRam Vilas Paswan'sLok Janshakti Party andMulayam Singh Yadav'sSamajwadi Party what the media has dubbed the "Fourth Front". RJD performed poorly and won just four seats, all of them in Bihar. However, in 2010 Assembly election, the RJD did not continue their alliance withSamajwadi Party.
In the2014 Indian general election, RJD came back to UPA and contested election in alliance withIndian National Congress andNationalist Congress Party in Bihar. Out of 40 seats in Bihar, RJD will contest on 27 seats, INC on 12 and NCP on one. RJD won only four out of total forty Loksabha seats in Bihar.[12][13][14][15][16]
The party leadership consists of the following bodies.
Lalu Prasad Yadav is the National President of RJD.
The national vice president members of the partyMangani Lal Mandal, Mohammad Ilyas Hussain, Ahmed Ashfaq Karim,Rabri Devi,Raghuvansh Prasad Singh,Shivanand Tiwary andMehboob Ali Kaiser
National Secretary general:Abdul Bari Siddiqui.
National Treasurer:Sunil Kumar Singh[17]
The national executive members of the party Lalu Prasad Yadav, Tejashwi Yadav, Tej Pratap Yadav, Misa Bharti, Prem Chandra Gupta, Manoj Jha, Abdul Bari Siddiqui and Ram Chandra Purve.[18]
On 14 April 2015, the RJD,Janata Dal (United),Janata Dal (Secular), theIndian National Lok Dal, Samajwadi Party, andSamajwadi Janata Party (Rashtriya) announced that they would merge into a new nationalJanata Parivar alliance in order to oppose theBJP, thus breaking their long time alliance with the INC.[19] This would give the alliance 14Lok Sabha seats and 30Rajya Sabha seats.
On 7 May 2015, the RJD expelledPappu Yadav for six years due to anti-RJD activities after speculation rose that he may join theBiju Janata Dal for the2015 Bihar Legislative Assembly election but he formed a new party calledJan Adhikar Party.[20]
In November 2015, RJD won the elections as party became the single largest party with 80 followed byJanata Dal (United) with 71 seats,BJP with 53 seats and Congress with 27 seats. In terms of vote share, BJP came first with 24.4%, followed by RJD with 18.4% and JD (U) with 16.8% and Congress got 6.7%. Janata Dal (United)'sNitish Kumar became theChief Minister and Lalu's sonTejashwi Yadav became theDeputy Chief Minister of Bihar.
In July 2017, following the corruption cases against Tejashwi Yadav, Nitish Kumar asked Yadav to resign from the cabinet, which was refused by RJD. In order to protect his clean image towards corruption,Nitish Kumar resigned on 26 July 2017, ending RJD's stake in Bihar government. What followed next was a coalition BJP and JDU as a result Nitish Kumar became theChief Minister again whereas Sushil Modi, a prominent BJP leader became the Deputy Chief Minister.[21][22][23]
Alliance betweenIndian National Congress and the RJD factioned in October 2021,[24][25] whenTejashwi Yadav gave tickets to candidates in BiharBy-elections,[26] whereCongress was fixed to stand candidates.[27][28]
In August 2022, the Mahagathbandhan,Janata Dal (United),Indian National Congress,Hindustan Awam Morcha andLeft Front joined again to form2/3rd Majoritygovernment inBihar Legislative Assembly.[29]
In January 2024, Nitish Kumar left the Mahagathbandhan once again and joined hands with the BJP. He later became the chief minister once again.
In2025 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, RJD won just 25 seats and it slipped to third largest party. Its allies won 10 seats.
Mohammad Shahabuddin, a leader of RJD, has been involved in several criminal cases. Shahabuddin has been accused of several murders, be it of political rivals, or police officers.[30] Shahabuddin, through his lawyers, attempted to also intimidate the legal proceedings, which led to more criminal cases against him.[31]
DuringLalu Prasad Yadav's tenure as Chief Minister, Bihar's law and order was at lowest,[32][33] kidnapping was on rise and private armies mushroomed.[34] He was also criticized by opposition in theShilpi-Gautam Murder case and the death of his daughter Ragini Yadav's friend, Abhishek Mishra, in mysterious circumstances.[35][36]
An investigation into the land-for-jobs scam has implicatedLalu Prasad, along with both of his sons, as well as his wifeRabri Devi andhis daughter, in addition to their involvement in other corruption scandals.[37] Tejashwi Yadav allegedly threatenedCentral Bureau of Investigation agents who were investigating him in another corruption case.[38]
| Lok Sabha Term | Indian General election | Seats contested | Seats won | Votes Polled | % of votes | State (seats) | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13th Lok Sabha | 1999 | 61 | 7 / 543 | 10,150,492 | 2.79 | Bihar (7) | [39] |
| 14th Lok Sabha | 2004 | 42 | 24 / 543 | 9,384,147 | 2.4 | Bihar (22) Jharkhand (2) | [39] |
| 15th Lok Sabha | 2009 | 44 | 4 / 543 | 5,280,084 | 1.3 | Bihar (4) | [39] |
| 16th Lok Sabha | 2014 | 30 | 4 / 543 | 7,442,313 | 1.4 | Bihar (4) | [39] |
| 17th Lok Sabha | 2019 | 21 | 0 / 543 | 6,631,585 | 1.1 | N/A | [39] |
| 18th Lok Sabha | 2024 | 23 | 4 / 543 | 10,107,402 | 1.57 | Bihar (4) |
| Vidhan Sabha Term | Assembly Elections | Seats Contested | Seats Won | % of votes | % of votes in seats contested | Party Votes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12th Vidhan Sabha | 2000 | 293 | 124 / 324 | 28.34 | 31.28 | 10,500,361 | [41] |
| 13th Vidhan Sabha | 2005 February | 210 | 71 / 243 | 25.07 | 28.35 | 6,140,223 | [42] |
| 14th Vidhan Sabha | 2005 October | 175 | 54 / 243 | 23.45 | 32.63 | 5,525,081 | [43] |
| 15th Vidhan Sabha | 2010 | 168 | 22 / 243 | 18.84 | 27.31 | 5,475,656 | [44] |
| 16th Vidhan Sabha | 2015 | 101 | 80 / 243 | 18.4 | 44.35 | 6,995,509 | [45] |
| 17th Vidhan Sabha | 2020 | 144 | 75 / 243 | 23.11 | 38.96 | 9,738,855 | [46] |
| 18th Vidhan Sabha | 2025 | 143 | 25 / 243 | 23.00 | 11,546,055 |
| Vidhan Sabha Term | Jharkhand Assembly Elections | Seats Contested | Seats Won | % of votes | Party Votes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2nd Vidhan Sabha | 2005 | 51 | 7 / 81 | 8.48 | [47] | |
| 3rd Vidhan Sabha | 2009 | 56 | 5 / 81 | 5.03 | 517,324 | [48] |
| 4th Vidhan Sabha | 2014 | 19 | 0 / 81 | 3.13 | 133,815 | [49] |
| 5th Vidhan Sabha | 2019 | 7 | 1 / 81 | 2.75 | 413,167 | [50] |
| 6th Vidhan Sabha | 2024 | 7 | 4 / 81 | 3.44 | 613,880 | [51] |
| No. | Name | Term in office | Party | Assembly (Election) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lalu Prasad Yadav | 10 March 1990 | 28 March 1995 | 5 years, 18 days | Janata Dal | Tenth Assembly | |
| 2 | Lalu Prasad Yadav | 4 April 1995 | 25 July 1997 | 2 years, 112 days | Janata Dal | Eleventh Assembly | |
| 3 | Rabri Devi | 25 July 1997 | 11 February 1999 | 1 year, 201 days | Rashtriya Janata Dal | Eleventh Assembly | |
| 4 | Rabri Devi | 9 March 1999 | 2 March 2000 | 359 days | Rashtriya Janata Dal | Eleventh Assembly | |
| 5 | Rabri Devi | 11 March 2000 | 6 March 2005 | 4 years, 360 days | Rashtriya Janata Dal | Twelfth Assembly | |
| No. | Name | Term in office | Assembly (Election) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Tejashwi Yadav | 26 November 2015 | 26 July 2017 | 1 year, 244 days | 17th Bihar Assembly | |
| 2. | Tejashwi Yadav | 10 August 2022 | 28 January 2024 | 1 year, 171 days | 18th Bihar Assembly | |
| No. | Name | Term Start | Term End |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Abdul Bari Siddiqui | 1997 | 2010 |
| 2. | Ram Chandra Purve | 2010 | 2019 |
| 3. | Jagada Nand Singh | 2019 | 2025 |
| 4. | Mangani Lal Mandal | 2025 | Incumbent |
The legal cases against Lalu Prasad Yadav and Lula da Silva along with their subsequent incarceration are glaring examples of how the issue of corruption is often used as a weapon by the right against popular centre-left political formations.
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