File Photo: JD(U) MLA Anant Singh scuffles with policemen during his arrest in Patna on Wednesday. (Press Trust of India)
Welcoming the arrest of JD(U) MLA Anant Singh, RJD president Lalu Yadav today admitted that it was his "pressure" which led to the arrest.
"Yes it was my pressure (which led to Singh's arrest). What should I have done? What will you do if somebody pulls your child and takes him away or if somebody attacks a journalist? Such people destroy social harmony," Mr Yadav said while talking to media persons.
It is noteworthy the youth - Putus Yadav - whose kidnapping and subsequent murder turned the heat on Mr Singh, hailed from the same caste as that of Prasad, and that too in an area where the rivalry for dominance between Yadavs and Bhumihars (the caste to which the MLA belongs) had gained notoriety over the last few decades.
"The arrest of Singh has laid to rest the doubt which used to be on the Bihar government and Bihar Police. He has reaped as he sowed," the former Bihar Chief Minister added.
Lalu Yadav was speaking to media persons after meeting workers and leaders from Purnia, Araria, Katihar and Kishanganj district as part of his party's poll preparations.
Throwing more light on the MLA's arrest, he said, "Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told me that the rule of law will be upheld, while I asserted that even if anybody is a big man, he should not be left unpunished. All are equal before the law," he added.
Pointing out the road blockades, disrupting of railway traffic, stone-pelting and attempt to set a train on fire, the veteran leader added that "such things will not be tolerated at any cost".
He also said he did not want to do politics on the MLA's arrest.
Fielding questions on Jaya Prakash Narayan and the 40th anniversary of Emergency, he said, "Emergency ended due to the blessings of JP and the Congress was wiped out in elections. He did not ask anything from the country. He just gave away everything."
The RJD president, who himself was jailed during the Emergency, said the dreams of Jaya Prakash Narayan could not be realised till the poor and downtrodden are brought to the mainstream.