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Mainpuri bypoll: All roads lead to Mulayam Singh Yadav’s ‘Samadhi Sthal’ in Saifai
Visitors to the ‘Samadhi Sthal’ these days are mostly Samajwadi Party leaders from all parts of Uttar Pradesh. They include former MPs, MLA and other leaders out to campaign for Dimple Yadav
Head constable Mahaveer Singh is busy regulating the parking of SUVs as they head for the ‘Samadhi Sthal’ (memorial) of Samajwadi Party founder the late Mulayam Singh Yadav, fondly referred to as ‘netaji’, in his ancestral village Saifai in Etawah district.
Unlike a typical village, Saifai has the trappings of a modern city with a medical institute and a college in the name of actor Amitabh Bachchan.
“Election tak aisa hi chalega’ (it will remain so till the election),” says Mahaveer Singh, who along with other police personnel, is stationed at a tent near the ‘samadhi sthal’ or the spot where ‘netaji’ was cremated after his death on October 10 at the age of 82. His mortal remains were brought to Saifai, which is famous as the village of Mulayam Singh Yadav, who rose to become defence minister and three-time chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.
Visitors to the ‘Samadhi Sthal’ these days are mostly Samajwadi Party leaders from all parts of Uttar Pradesh. They include former MPs, MLA and other leaders reaching here to campaign for Dimple Yadav, Mulayam’s daughter in-law and the Samajwadi Party candidate for the December 5 Lok Sabha bypoll in Mainpuri.
“Hame to aana hi tha, netaji apne logon ke liye sab karte the, aaj unki bahu election lad rahi hai isliye hum unka chunav dekhenge (Netaji used to care for his supporters, thus we had to come when his daughter-in-law is contesting the election),” said an SP leader from Azamgarh. Like him, many others have come from Ballia, Hardoi, Baghpat and Merrut.
Enclosed in an iron mesh, the Samadhi Sthal has photos of Mulayam, a portrait of Lord Krishna and a visitors’ register enthusiastically filled by SP leaders visiting the spot.
The Samadhi Sthal is at the Mela ground, which was in the news during the SP rule in UP (2012 to 2017) as the venue of the star-studded ‘Safai Mahotsav’.
Emotions apart, battle lines are drawn for the Mainpuri bypoll, especially after chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s well-attended public meeting in Karhal on November 28.
At the rally, Yogi Adityanath spoke about how netaji, in the presence of PM Narendra Modi in Parliament, had wished the BJP would come to power in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
“We have fulfilled the wishes of netaji in Azamgarh and Rampur (by- elections won by the BJP in June) who once said “jeetegi to BJP hi” (only BJP will win),” Adityanath said.
“So, voters in Mainpuri should ensure BJP’s victory here to keep netaji’s word,” the chief minister said in Karhal, the assembly constituency of Akhilesh Yadav. Karhal has the Jain Inter College where Mulayam Singh Yadav was a student and later a teacher.
The venue of CM’s rally in Karhal was a a college ground earlier booked by SP president and local MLA Akhilesh Yadav, who alleged that his booking was cancelled at the last moment and the venue was allotted to the CM’s rally.
“Was it the only ground available and why the CM chose Karhal only for the meet?” Akhilesh Yadav asked.
In no mood to mince words, Yogi Adityanath termed Shivpal Yadav, brother of netaji, as “pendulum” and “football kicked by both teams”.
He reminded the gathering of the assembly election campaign when Shivpal Yadav, who had been at odds with Akhilesh Yadav, had to sit on the arm of a chair occupied by Mulayam Singh Yadav and the other chair was taken by Akhilesh Yadav on an election “rath” (campaign vehicle).
“If chief minister Yogi Adityanath holds netaji in such high regard, than why does he not let Dimple Yadav win the by-election in Mainpuri to prove his respect to netaji,” said Daroga Prasad Saroj, former SP MP from Lalganj (Azamgarh) after paying tributes at the Samadhi Sthal in Saifai.
Yogi Adityanath appealed to Mainpuri voters not to be misled by the SP’s “emotional card”.
Yet, the Samajwadi Party’s “emotional appeal” in Mainpuri after Mulayam’s death is its trump card to counter the BJP, which says the bypoll is a fight of “12 versus 5” that will give the party its first win in the Mainpuri Lok Sabha constituency.
The SP has won the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat nine times since 1996.
“There are 17 lakh voters in the Mainpuri parliamentary constituency, out of which 4.30 lakh are Yadav voters and 60,000 Muslim voters. They are the only voters committed to the Samajwadi Party. That makes around 5 lakh. The remaining 12 lakh voters include 2.90 lakh Shakyas (OBC), 2 lakh Thakurs, 1.50 lakh Dalits, 1.10 lakh Brahmins, 1 lakh Lodhis (OBC) and 70,000 Vaishya voters and others,” says a BJP leader while having a meal at the party’s election office ub Mainpuri city which is flooded these days by ministers in the UP cabinet, organisational heads, MPs and MLAs from nearby districts for the election. “Agar vote sabhi jaati se hi padte to chunav karane ki zarurat kya hai, jaati ke log gin lete (if elections were only caste based, then one need only count the voters on caste lines, what is the need for an election?)” says Kanhiya Gupta, a tea seller near the Samadhi Sthal in Saifai.
“One can know the election result in Mainpuri if he had seen the sea of followers who came here for last rites of netaji,” Gupta says.
He is not prepared to buy the theory that Mulayam Singh Yadav won election after election in Mainpuri because of some vote bank. These are the sentiments which Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav is aware of. Addressing a public meeting at Reda village on the road towards Ghiror (the assembly seat in Mainpuri won by the BJP in 2017 and 2022), Akhilesh reminds voters about his father’s association with Mainpuri.
“Any political leader is a ‘neta’ but it was only Mulayam Singh Yadav, your MP, who is known by the term netaji. He became netaji because he got this identity from Mainpuri and gave Mainpuri a new identity. All army generals insisted on netaji wearing heavy woollens while visiting Siachen as defence minister but netaji said that he came from a village and would wear only dhoti and kurta and did so,” he said amid cheers by villagers, mostly from the Pal community.
“Hamare chacha (Shivpal Yadav) rajneeti ke purane khiladi hain’ (my uncle is a seasoned politician) and knows how to deal with the BJP,” says Akhilesh Yadav, conveying the message of Yadav family’s unity and establishing a connect with the audience, a skill that his father mastered. SP candidate Dimple Yadav has been constantly saying this election is for netaji and not her. “Netaji had a special sentiment for Mainpuri and began his struggle from here but now he is not with us. We need to walk on his footprints, so vote for his party as a tribute to him,” says Dimple.
The local people too have a lot to say about the bypoll.
“It is an irony that BJP is relying on caste combinations in Mainpuri, a seat won by Mulayam Singh Yadav five times, a man adept in transforming caste combinations into favourable results. Mainpuri belonged to netaji and will remain his in this first election after his death,” says a shopkeeper in Karhal, preferring not to be named.
Yet caste and religion continue to be integral factors in elections and Mainpuri is no exception.
Like in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, the Congress has not fielded its candidate. The BSP, which was in alliance with the SP three years ago, too has not put up its nominee. The election to the seat seems wide open.
There are a sizeable number of Dalits, besides the second highest number of voters from the Shakya community.
The Shakya voters, second only to Yadavs in number, behave differently in assembly and Lok Sabha elections and no party can claim them as their committed voters.
But there are words of caution too. “This is not an election to form a government, it being a bypoll. But stakes are certainly high for Samajwadi Party while the BJP has not much to lose. Akhilesh Yadav understands this and is leaving no stone unturned to ensure victory for the party candidate and his wife. Margin of victory in 2019 Lok Sabha election had reduced to below one lakh for netaji despite BSP being in alliance (with the SP) thus Akhilesh Yadav has all reasons for camping here for the election” says Prakhar Dixit, a lawyer. But Samajwadi Party workers don’t seem worried, though they express some concern over the local administration allegedly getting inclined towards ruling party on polling day.
They are happy that ‘chachaji” (Shivpal Yadav) blessed his nephew Akhilesh Yadav who touched his feet publicly on a stage in Saifai at the very beginning of the election campaign.
Chacha (Shipal Yadav) has publicly disowned his shishya (disciple) Raghuraj Singh Shakya, the BJP candidate.
Shivpal Yadav, the youngest of five brothers, has remained undefeated from Jaswant Nagar.He had last won from Jaswant Nagar by a margin of 92,000 votes in 2022.
Subhash Chandra Yadav, 73, a Mulayam loyalist, says, “This is the first election after demise of netaji who did so much for Mainpuri where voters will not let go of the opportunity to pay tribute to him by voting for his bahu.”
Subhash Chandra Yadav is the son of Nathhu Singh who, impressed by the wrestling skills of Mulayam Singh Yadav, allowed him the opportunity to contest from Jaswant Nagar and become MLA for the first time in 1967.
“Many considered it a tactical mistake by Akhilesh Yadav not to campaign in the Azamgarh and Rampur bypolls, but he is in no mood to repeat the same mistake. He is going for campaigning to every nook and corner in Mainpuri where he is camping this time.
“Overconfidence brought down netaji’s margin to below one lakh in Mainpuri in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. But this time the margin will be handsome,” he says.
