Remember Lalu's rebel son? Krishna bhakt-Teju Bhaiya is now a Shaivite sant
India Today
Lalu Prasad Yadav's elder son, Tej Pratap, is speaking of wisdom and devotion again. He's no longer the Krishna bhakt that he was. He is now sporting saffron attire in Reels, and is propagating Shiva bhakti. His new Instagram handle is SantTejPratapYadav. After political and personal isolation, Teju bhaiya seems to have found solace in Rudraksha, Shiva bhajans and the Shiva Puran.
Roughly three years ago, in 2023, Tej Pratap Yadav had a dream. One of his Reels revealed that. Lying casually on a sofa-cum-bed, he saw the war of Kurukshetra unfolding. There were aerial visuals of the Chakravyuh. Then appeared Lord Krishna. Then came Shiva and Ganesha. Next, he saw what looked like a many-headed divine form of Vishnu. It contained the wider Hindu pantheon within it, including Shaivite and Vaishnavite deities. All in a single deity. He spoke the language of wisdom and devotion as a Krishna bhakt.
Years later, when the same "Teju Bhaiya", as his fans call him, appeared on a sofa in saffron robes, holding Rudraksha beads, with a Shiva Puran placed in front of him, many were quick to ask if the Krishna bhakt had now turned into a Shiva sant. A saint (saint)? That's because the new Instagram handle from which Tej Pratap is posting the Reels in saffron-clad attire is named, SantTejPratapYadav.
Lalu Prasad Yadav's elder son, Teju bhaiya, a dedicated Krishna devotee, looks like he has turned into a Shaivite saint. In February, he shared a Reel declaring the new beginning. Sitting before a Shiva idol, often playing Shiva bhajan, Tehu bhaiya's new Instagram handle bio says, "Our aim is to promote Vedic knowledge and add every heart to religion. Har Har Mahadev". It's a fresh chapter for the bhakt-turned-politician-turned-YouTuber-turned-Shiba saint, someone said. Another person called it a Plan C in the comments.
Tej Pratap Yadav's latest pivot follows his political and personal isolation. Expelled from the RJD before the 2025 Bihar polls, the party's first family too disowned Teju Bhaiya. He accused his younger brother, Tejashwi Yadav, of being "hijacked by a certain Jaichand". That didn't help. Tej Pratap, who then assumed the role of national president of Janshakti Janata Dal (JJD), walked a lonely road. With nowhere to go, he embraced a portrait of his late grandmother, Marchaiya Devi, on his nomination day. That didn't help either. He came third in the Mahua seat, finishing 50,000 votes behind the winner. After losing much of what he had, Tej Pratap is seeking solace in Shiva bhakti. The JiHuzooriLaals say his family pushed him to a corner. Others claim Tej Pratap never stuck to a single script.
They might have been correct. But Teju Bhaiya, his Gods, and his admirers know that he was never a stranger to devotion to Shiva.
Before the recent visible shift, Tej Pratap had fully dressed as Lord Shiva. That was in 2018 and 2019, when he was named a minister in CM Nitish Kumar's Mahagathbandhan Cabinet. He offered prayers at Patna temples and even visited the Baba Dham in Jharkhand's Deoghar. It's an ancient temple of Baba Baidyanath, where one of the 12 Jyotirlingas is enshrined. Deoghar is believed to be the place where Ravana, carrying Lord Shiva on his way to Sri Lanka, had stopped, betraying the conditions of a non-stop journey.
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