Samajwadi Party (SP) patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav’s flip-flops over his son Akhilesh Yadav and brother Shivpal Yadav have been going on for two years. And it seems there’s no stopping him.
Two days ahead of Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party-Lohia (PSPL) chief Shivpal Yadav’s first show of strength in Lucknow on Sunday, Mulayam attended a public rally held by Akhilesh Yadav in Firozabad on Friday. From the way things went at the rally, political pundits concluded that Akhilesh had Mulayam for keeps.
Since the Yadav family feud broke out in August 2016, this was the first SP rally that Mulayam addressed with Akhilesh and his cousin Ramgopal Yadav. Mulayam had accused Ramgopal of being the chief architect of the family feud in 2016.This time, however, Mulayam held Ramgopal’s son Akshaya Yadav hand and raised it, seeking support for him for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Akshaya is the Samajwadi Party’s sitting MP from Firozabad and Shivpal has already said that he intends to contest the Lok Sabha polls from there.
Not only political pundits, but the Shivpal camp also was sure that by endorsing Akshaya for the Firozabad seat, Mulayam had finally snapped political ties with his brother. But a surprise was in store at the Janakrosh rally held in Lucknow on Sunday by the PSP-L and the Bahujan Mukti Party.
Soon after the rally began, Mulayam arrived at the venue.
“We all were happy, till he repeatedly sought support for the Samajwadi Party. Many of us were a bit upset, and some youths made it obvious by jeering at him. He then also sought support for PSP-L and Shivpal,” said a senior PSPL leader who too was with the SP one like Shivpal.
He added: “We respect Mulayam too much. We are confused, where does he belong politically--to the son or to the brother.”
Deepak Mishra, spokesperson for PSPL, said: “When we played ‘gully cricket’ in childhood, the kid who owned the bat and ball had the prerogative to play for both the sides. Netaji is the one who has the bat and ball. He can play for both the sides.”
Prof SK Dwivedi, a political analyst and former head of the department of political science, Lucknow University, said, “Mulayam must stop this. He should make it clear which side he is on. This way, he is creating confusion not only in the public mind but more importantly among the workers of both the parties. And above all, Mulayam is losing his hard-earned reputation in Indian politics.”
From the start of the Yadav family’s political feud in August 2016 till October 2017, Mulayam stuck to Shivpal against Akhilesh. Mulayam campaigned for Shivpal in Jaswant Nagar and his daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav in the Lucknow Cantonment constituency in the 2017 assembly polls, held in February-March that tear. Mulayam did not campaign for the rest of the party candidates. But two days ahead of Akhilesh’s re-election as the SP national president, Mulayam began doing a balancing act.
He restrained Shivpal from floating a separate political party on the one hand and, on the other hand, expressed unhappiness with Akhilesh for allying with the Congress for the 2017 UP Assembly polls. Nevertheless, he wished Akhilesh luck for the party’s national convention. On October 5, Mulayam was the first to congratulate Akhilesh on his re-election as the SP national president.
Mulayam regularly reprimanded Akhilesh over governance when the son was the chief minister. He had even criticised the free laptop distribution scheme and the Lucknow metro rail project conceived by the Akhilesh Yadav government. But now he praises Akhilesh over governance.
Mulayam had expelled the then chief minister Akhilesh Yadav from the SP for six years, the day before the emergency party convention held on January 1, 2017. It was at this convention that Akhilesh replaced Mulayam as the party’s national president. Hours ahead of the convention, Akhilesh’s explusion was revoked.
Another major flip-flop of Mulayam was vis-a-vis Shivpal going his own way. In Shivpal’s own words, he was ready to float the Samajwadi Secular Morcha soon after the 2017 UP assembly elections, but Netaji (Mulayam) restrained him. At Sunday’s rally, Shivpal said: “In the presence of Netaji, I am saying that I never wanted to form a separate party, and it was with his insistence, consent, and blessings, that (I) formed the party.”
Mulayam maintained a distance from Shivpal ever since he floated the Samajwadi Secular Morcha in August and the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) in October. During this period, Mulayam became a frequent visitor to the Samajwadi Party office. But suddenly, on October 30, he visited Shivpal’s office allotted to him by the state government.
The Shivpal camp cheered and the Akhilesh camp appeared demotivated. Within hours, Mulayam went to the SP headquarters.
A week ahead of Mulayam’s birthday on November 22, buoyed by the senior Yadav’s visit to the PSP-L office, Shivpal announced a statewide programme to celebrate the occasion. He organised a grand show in Saifai where it was expected that Mulayam could cut the cake. Instead, Mulayam went to the SP office in Lucknow and cut the cake, skipping Shivpal’s event.
Now, as an SP leader, Mulayam is back with all the opposition parties to chalk out a strategy against the BJP for the 2019 polls.
First Published: Dec 11, 2018 07:19 IST