"Even
as chief minister I will cook for my husband and children." |
There was pity and even contempt for her when her tainted
husband forced her into the chief minister's post and promptly went off to jail. Some four
months down the line, the unbridled scoffing has given way to a grudging respect. Laloo
Prasad Yadav's devoted wife, the mother of his nine children and a woman with no known
ambitions beyond her household, has become Bihar's most dignified chief minister in living
memory. Not that dignity has spelt decisiveness: Bihar remains ungoverned and ungovernable
as ever. Despite that, it is difficult to dislike Rabri. In an age when politicians match
cholera on the popularity charts, that is some achievement. Now if only her humility and
sheer artlessness were to prove a little infectious. If only she could share the secret
with her husband. Laloo's new political tutor could be at home. |
