The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD- "National People's Party") is a political party in India, based in the state of Bihar. The party was founded in 1997 by Laloo Prasad Yadav. The party came about as a result of Lalu Prasad Yadav, ex-president of Janata Dal, being evicted by Sharad Yadav,^{[citation needed]} the then president, on corruption charges ($250 million) over the farm support funds. The mass base of the party has traditionally been Yadavs and Muslims, two large and relatively politically active segments of Bihar's population. In 2008, RJD received the status of recognized national level party following its performance in north-eastern states. RJD was derocognised as a national party on 30 July 2010.

For a long time in Bihar, political activity was a privilege and the prerogative of the landed and upper castes particularly Bhumihars, Brahmins and Rajputs. This was more so in the Bhojpuri belt from which Lalu Yadav hails. The landed upper castes also dominated the civil and police administration. Despite reservations in government service, many OBC and SC people could not avail of it because of the poor state of basic primary and secondary eeducation in Bihar. The powerful castes mainly supported the Congress Party in rural areas and the Jan Sangh in urban areas. Coming from an impoverished family of cattle herders and small farmers of the backward and aggressive Yadav caste, Lalu wanted to gain in political influence for his community and had a sense of hatred towards the Hathwa Raj, hereditary Bhumihar landed magnates of Gopalaganj and Siwan. He and others of his ilk, like Sharad Yadav, Nitish Kumar and Ram Vilas Paswan lashed on to the opportunity provided by JP Narayan's anti-emergency movement. The emergency was a period of Congress dictatorship, which indirectly implied upper-caste dictatorship, in Bihar, In the 1977 State and National elections, backward caste candidates triumphed in most constituencies.

Rabri Devi (born 1959) served three terms as the Chief Minister, of Bihar, India, as a member of the Rashtriya Janata Dal political party, between 1997 and 2005. She is the wife of the Indian politician Lalu Prasad Yadav, former Chief Minister of Bihar and former Railway Minister of India. Devi has subsequently beenm^[when?] a Member of the Legislative Council for Bihar Vidhan Parishad.^{[citation needed]}

Rabri Devi Yadav was born to Sib Prasad Chaudhary of Salarkalan, Line Bazar, Gopalganj.

Devi's appointment as the Chief Minister of Bihar was considered as one of the most unexpected and awkward decisions^{[citation needed]} of the entire Indian political history because she was a traditional housewife and had no interest nor any prior experience in politics until then.^{[citation needed]} The move fitted well with the needs of the government in power at the time as Lalu Prasad Yadav had to quit as the Chief Minister of Bihar after the Fodder scam was revealed, but he was alleged to have been controlling the affairs by giving his wife the coveted post of the head of the state government.^{[citation needed]} It was alleged that he continued to act and administer as a de facto chief minister with his wife being a ceremonial head.^{[citation needed]} She became the first woman Chief Minister of Bihar on 25 July 1997.

Lalu Prasad Yadav (Devanāgarī: लालू प्रसाद यादव) is an Indian politician from Bihar. He was the Minister of Railways from 2004 to 2009 in the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, and the President of the Rashtriya Janata Dal political party. He is a Member of Parliament in the 15th Lok Sabha from the Saran constituency in Bihar.

He entered politics during his student days at Patna University, and he was elected a member of the Lok Sabha in 1977 as a Janata party candidate. At the age of 29 he was one of its youngest members of Parliament.

He is famous for his charismatic leadership and mass appeal, and has been criticized for caste-based politics. and the corruption cases against him.

Yadav served as the Chief Minister of Bihar from 1990 till 1997, when he resigned following escalating corruption charges in the Fodder Scam. From 1997 to 2005, with brief interruptions, his wife Rabri Devi was the Chief Minister. Her political opponents often accused her as having served as his "surrogate." His tenure as Chief Minister of the state has been criticized for lawlessness and has been termed as the Jungle Raj.

Ram Vilas Paswan (born 5 July 1946) is the president of the Lok Janshakti Party and a Rajya Sabha MP.

Paswan was born to a Dusadh family. He holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Arts degrees from Kosi College, Khagaria and Patna University.

Paswan was elected to the Bihar state legislative assembly in 1969 as a member of the Samyukta Socialist Party ("United Socialist Party") from a reserved constituency. In 1974, as an ardent follower of Raj Narayan and Jayaprakash Narayan Paswan became the general secretary of the Lok Dal. He was personally close to the prominent leaders of anti-emergency like Raj Narayan, Karpoori Thakur and Satyendra Narayan Sinha.

In 1975, when emergency was proclaimed in India, he was arrested and spent the entire period in jail. On being released in 1977, he became a member of the Janata Party and won election to Parliament for the first time on its ticket. He was re-elected to the 7th Lok Sabha in 1980 and 1984 from Hajipur constituency. In 1983, he established the Dalit Sena, an organization for Dalit emancipation and welfare.