No party is free of rowdy elements

PATNA: If a rowdy act of flashing guns at each other in the RJD office here touched the raw nerves of party supremo Lalu Prasad, there are reasons. His regime was marked by acts of rowdism senior IAS officers were manhandled by party MPs in their chambers, cars and sofas lifted from showrooms for a marriage ceremony, a minister manhandled at the CM's house, wife of an IAS officer abused in public...the list is endless.
The RJD chief, for the, last one year publicly conceded that rowdy elements gave a bad name to his regime and in future he would not tolerate such acts.
The incident at the RJD office on Friday has given its opponents an opportunity to hit back. "Rowdyism is an exclusive Lalu brand of politics. He has been promoting rowdy elements within the government and the party," said octogenarian politician and State Citizens' Council vice-chairman Bhola Prasad Singh. He insisted that before Lalu's entry, the nature of conflicts was political.
However, the truth is that rowdy elements are not confined to the RJD alone. Sadaquat Ashram, the state headquarters of the Congress, has been witness to rowdyism. This included the strong arm tactics of a senior leader, who became a Union minister later, to take over the Ashram. In 1987, an NSUI function at Sadaquat Ashram witnessed 37 rounds of firing in the air. During the period when Chandan Bagchi was acting party president, two warring groups filed FIRs against each other alleging that the other group had opened fire at them.
In the 1990s, Tanveer Akhtar, a product of JNU, was nominated state Youth Congress chief. While he received flowers at some stations en route Patna, the moment the train reached Danapur goons entered his compartment and not only manhandled him but also forced him to sign his resignation letter. "Tanveer was virtually stripped naked by supporters of the rival group," recalled an old Congressman.
Earlier this year, mike was snatched from former MP Ranjit Ranjan at a Congress meeting in Patna. "Rowdy elements mainly enter ruling parties to get police protection. My party under the guidelines of AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi is in the process of eliminating such elements from the party," claimed senior party leader Prem Chandra Mishra.
The BJP too had its share of rowdyism. Supporters of former MLA Janardhan Sharma barged into a press meet being addressed by senior party leader Arun Jaitley and abused Sushil Kumar Modi, the then leader of the Opposition in the state assembly for allegedly being responsible for denying Sharma a ticket in the assembly polls.
Former state JD(U) president Rajeev Ranjan Singh alias Lallan Singh was abused at the party office by supporters of former Union minister Nagmani holding him responsible for denial of Lok Sabha ticket to him.
"Rowdy elements join political parties because it gives them a social status and some clout. Due to largescale unemployment many youths, including rowdy elements, are entering politics. But it is not Lalu Prasad or Nitish Kumar who are responsible for this. This phenomenon started in Sanjay Gandhi era. The Congress is responsible for promoting this culture," said JD(U) MP Shivanand Tiwary.