ALL FOR YOU: Laloo may have set a new trend in marriage celebrations

The baraat band trumpeted as the "Royal Rath"-actually an ancient Bihar Military Police buggy-carrying Rao Samresh Singh, the bridegroom of Rohini Acharya and would be son-in-law of Laloo Prasad Yadav, rolled into 1 Anne Marg in Patna last Friday. Inside the sprawling 20-acre complex that houses the twin residences of state Chief Minister Rabri Devi and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) President Laloo Yadav, over 25,000 guests milled around as the harried father yelled instructions over a cordless microphone. It was revelry unleashed.

Elsewhere in the city, there was terror on the streets as Laloo's relatives let loose their goons to please him and to ensure that the function was a mega show embedded in the collective memory of the state. Several groups of RJD loyalists-miscreants to most people-prowled the streets of the state capital, raided car showrooms and drove away with as many as 50 new, un-registered cars. They were not car lifters in the conventional sense of the term; they were merely doing it so the VIP guests and baraatis of Bihar's First Family could be ferried in comfort.

RALLYING POINT: Car dealers were the target of Laloo loyalists

As usual, the RJD chief courted controversy last week when Bihar's first couple married off the second daughter, Rohini, to the son of Rao Ranvijay Singh, a senior Mumbai-based income-tax official. Celebration, however, meant different things to different people. For businessmen and traders, it means downing their shutters. The Patna operations of a leading automobile manufacturer were closed and the staff, including some senior executives, was shifted to Kolkata. Laloo's army of raiders even targeted small-time merchants and traders, who were too afraid to speak fearing retribution. Says A.C. Gupta, who owns a Maruti showroom on Boring Road: "We gave five cars voluntarily." But employees at the car showroom said 10 new air-conditioned vehicles, including Altos and Wagon Rs, were forcibly taken away. Other automobile manufacturers had the same story to relate. In most cases, groups of people had turned up, forcibly occupied the vehicles and steered away.

The Patna Police, allegedly following Laloo's diktats, were either hand-in-glove with the car sevaks or simply chose to look the other way, hoping that the storm would die down once the cars were returned after the wedding. According to one leading car dealer, the local police and three employees from Regional Service Office accompanied the goons to a Telco stockyard and drove away with two Tata Safaris and three air-conditioned Sumos. Even the petrol for the vehicles was bought on "credit".

No efforts were made to seize the cars parked in front of the airport and the chief minister's residence. Instead, the police waited for the car-lifters to voluntarily return the vehicles to the showrooms. The cars were duly returned after a hue and cry but for the dealers, it has meant a fresh set of problems. In many cases, customers who had booked the vehicles have refused to take delivery of the "used" cars. And many prospective buyers are staying away for the moment.

But the automobile showroom owners could still be considered lucky; they have at least got their cars back. Less fortunate are the owners of several furniture showrooms from where at least 100 sofa sets and plush chairs were carted away to decorate six huge pandals, including the main pandal which was a replica of Mumbai's Taj Hotel. The city's florists, however, could afford to breathe easy: the flowers to decorate the pandals and the wedding stage were flown in from Bangkok, Kolkata, Bangalore and Delhi-and presumably paid for.

The brazen show of might had few critics, barring consistent reports in the media which highlighted the ugly side of the wedding of the chief minister's daughter, often referred to as rajya ki beti (daughter of the state). But the BJP's Sushil Kumar Modi didn't seem to be in a mood to be silent about the extravaganza. Tongue firmly in cheek, the leader of the Opposition said Laloo, who is a trendsetter in several fields, had set yet another one. "Powerful politicians and their private armies will henceforth be tempted to lift cars from showrooms, loot and plunder furniture shops and force traders to contribute costly articles for their children's marriage," he says. K.D. Yadav, a senior CPI (ML) leader, says such a "vulgar" display of wealth and power has created a revulsion against the state rulers and their relatives, and caused widespread anger among the poor. "We will take the matter to the people's court as the police and the entire administration were party to it," he says.

There is no official word on the money that the father of the bride had to dish out for the mega wedding. Quintessentially Laloo, he says his own expenses were minimal and that a major chunk was borne by his followers. But conservative estimates suggest that it would have cost the RJD chief no less than Rs 5 crore. This has understandably raised the hackles of the likes of Modi who has demanded a CBI and income-tax inquiry into the wedding. What Modi finds particularly galling is that Rohini's father-in-law is an income-tax commissioner in Mumbai, someone who should be keeping a watch on such vulgar displays of wealth.

Many believe that by organising another massive show of power and pelf, Laloo may have been attempting to taunt his critics who routinely hound him. "I can't live in perpetual fear of the Income-Tax Department. Let them do what they want," Laloo was heard telling Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on the morning of the marriage. Two years ago, when the CBI was pressuring him in the fodder scam case, Laloo hosted the most lavish of weddings, that of his eldest daughter Misa Bharti. His sheer chutzpah could not stop the Income-Tax Department from opening investigations into the affair. They found nothing against him. This time too he may have covered the tracks skilfully and systematically.