Lalu Prasad Yadav founded the Rashtriya Janata Dal in 1997. Ex-Janata Dal President Lalu Prasad Yadav was removed from the party because of the corruption charges in Bihar. The RJD's core base is in Bihar, but it has grown in importance in the northeastern states of Manipur and Nagaland. Following in the footsteps of Jay Prakash Narayan, popularly known as Loknayak, a social revolutionary and modern thinker, the RJD has said that it would operate on the principles of social justice, social equality, and Secularism. Years of RJD's misrule in Bihar and corruption charges against Lalu Yadav have damaged the party's traditional support base.