Rabri Devi, the wife of Lalu Prasad Yadav, is an Indian politician of Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) who has served as the CM of Bihar for three terms. She was installed as the CM of Bihar for the first time in July 1997 after the previous CM Lalu Yadav was convicted in a fodder scam case popularly known as “Chara Ghotala”. She was the first women to be appointed as the CM of Bihar and even until today no woman has been able to chair the coveted post.
Wiki/Biography
Rabri Devi was born on 1 January 1956 (age 65 years; as of 2020) in Salarkala, Line Bazar, Gopalganj. She studied till 8th standard and then left the school. [1]My Neta In 1973, at the age of 17, she got married to Lalu Prasad Yadav, who was then active in student politics.
Family & Caste
Parents & Siblings
Rabri Devi is a daughter of Shiv Prasad Chaudhary.
Husband & Children
Rabri Devi, got married to Lalu Yadav, at the age of 18, on 1 June 1973. They went on to have nine children, two sons – Tej Pratap Yadav (first) and Tejashwi Yadav (second), and seven daughters – Misa Bharti (politician; eldest), Rohini Acharya (second), Chanda Singh (third), Ragini Yadav (fourth), Hema Yadav (fifth), Anushka Rao (sixth), and Rajlaxmi Singh (youngest). All of them, except Tejashwi Yadav, have are married.
Rabri Devi with husband Lalu Yadav
Rabri Devi with her sons – Tej Pratap Yadav (left) & Tejashwi Yadav (right)
Rabri Devi with her husband and children at her youngest daughter, Raj Laxmi’s engagement ceremony in 2015
The Journey from Being a Conventional Homemaker to Becoming the First Lady CM of Bihar
The appointment of Rabri Devi as the CM of Bihar in 1997 was considered as the most political incident not only of Bihar but also in the politics of the entire country. There are two stories which are told in the various political circles as the reason behind Rabri Devi being suddenly made the CM of Bihar. According to the first concept, it is believed that when Lalu Yadav realised that his chair was now in danger, he hurriedly handed over his post to his wife Rabri Devi, who was a total rookie at politics till that time, and was identified only as a homemaker and the wife of Lalu Yadav. Now, coming to the other story which Lalu Yadav himself has mentioned in his autobiography “Gopalganj to Raisina Road: My Political Journey,” and which is completely contrary to the first concept. In this book, Lalu Yadav writes that the suggestion of making Rabri Devi as CM was actually given to him by Indian National Congress’ (INC) president Sitaram Kesri at that time; however, he laughed off at his suggestion at that time. Then, on the evening of 24 July 1997, Lalu Yadav called a meeting of RJD MLA’s at his residence and announced that, “I have decided to resign from the post of CM. I request all of you to maintain unity in this time of crisis and choose your leader as Chief Minister.” Now, as per Lalu Yadav, he did not name Rabri Devi or any other person for the post of CM in this meeting. According to him, in this meeting of his, his minister-level colleagues, including Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, Jagadananda Singh, and Mahavir Jha, who were very close to him, put forward the proposal of Rabri Devi’s name. And then, all the MLAs also unanimously agreed on the name of Rabri Devi. Well, what happened after this, everyone knows that Lalu Yadav left his chair due to the fodder scam and his semi-literate wife Rabri Devi stepped out of the kitchen of her house and settled directly in the chair of the Chief Minister of Bihar.
An old picture of Rabri Devi as the CM of Bihar at CM office in Patna
Political Career
She served as the CM of Bihar for three terms from 1997 to 2005. Her first chief ministerial tenure was between 25 July 1997 – 11 February 1999, the second between 9 March 1999 – 2 March 2000, and the third and the last was between 11 March 2000 to 6 March 2005.
A hierarchical narrative collage of three pictures from Rabri Devi’s swearing-in ceremonies as the CM of Bihar
In 2005, Rabri Devi successfully contested her first Assembly election from Vaishali’s Raghopur Assembly constituency. In 2010 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, Rabri Devi again contested election from Raghopur as well as Sonpur assembly seats and lost the election from both the constituencies. She then contested from Saran constituency in the 2014 Lok Sabha election but lost again.
Controversy
In 2019, Aishwarya Rai, the estranged wife of his son Tej Pratap Yadav lodged an FIR against Rabri Devi, Tej Pratap Yadav and Misa Bharti, accusing them of torturing her during the time when she stayed at their house. [2]The Hindu
Address
208, Kautilya Nagar, MP MLA Colony, PO-B.V. College, District-Patna
Net Worth
Rabri Devi has a net worth of Rs. 13.3 crores. [3]My Neta
Facts/Trivia
- She has three cars, Maruti 800 Car, Military Disposal Jeep, and Mercedes Benz, registered to her name.
- She has mentioned “Business and Social Service” as her occupations in her declaration affidavit to the Election Comision of India.