With Tejashwi away in J'khand, father Lalu pens birthday message

Patna: RJD president Lalu Prasad on Saturday came out with an emotionally charged message for his younger son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav who has completed 35 years of age.

With Yadav away in Jharkhand since Friday for campaign for assembly polls in that state, his father, a former chief minister of undivided Bihar, posted an open letter on X.

The ailing septuagenarian hoped his son to "carry forward the torch of socialism" and said "you have been a man of commitment......Bihar looks at you with hope, make sure you live up to expectations".

In an apparent jibe at arch rival Nitish Kumar, the Bihar Chief Minister with whom short-lived alliances of RJD had enabled Yadav to become the Deputy CM twice, Prasad said "It is not power and position but ideas and character that make a person great. An unprincipled person finds a place neither in the hearts of people nor in history".

Reckoned among the biggest mass leaders of his generation, the RJD supremo advised his son to "go back to 'Janata Malik' (the people who are your lord) whenever you feel dejected".

"At the tender age of 35, you have seen many ups and downs, learnt a lot. I feel glad and proud when I look at you and recall my own aspirations and accomplishments in the period when I was between 25 and 35 years of age", added the former union minister.

"You belong to the people. May gods and goddesses shower on you their blessings so that the future of Bihar is yasshaswi (glorious) and tejaswi (bright, a play on the name", added Prasad, who signed off with "lots of love and blessings".

प्रिय तेजस्वी,

तुम्हारे जन्मदिन पर परमात्मा से प्रार्थना करते हैं कि परम पिता आपको हिम्मत, हौसला, ताक़त, सेहत, ऊर्जा, आत्मबल और अटूट इच्छा शक्ति प्रदान करे। जनसेवा के जिस पथ पर तुम चल रहे हो उस पर बिना थके, बिना झुके जनता की निरंतर सेवा करते हुए आगे बढ़ते रहो। समाजवाद की मशाल को… pic.twitter.com/eg2dtVN87a

— Lalu Prasad Yadav (@laluprasadrjd) November 9, 2024