Mulayam's fight of his life

There?s a case against him, his friends are deserting him, and his health isn?t what it used to be, writes Sunita Aron.

Always be on the offensive, never go on the defensive when cornered,” Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav’s wrestling guru had taught him. The tip worked well for Mulayam in the akhada of UP’s electoral politics as well —until now. Beset by controversies, facing income tax notices and a string of Amar Singh CDs, the UP strongman finds himself in a corner he will be hard pressed to fight out of.

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Nothing hurts Mulayam more than knocks on his personal image. He is the party’s mascot and vote-catcher. The ongoing disproportionate assets case, which names his sons Akhilesh and Pratik, wife Dimple and brother Shivpal, has therefore hit him hard. His health, too, is not what it used to be. He says yoga has proved therapeutic, but the political buzz has it that he may go abroad for a minor operation before the February 2007 polls. In case he does, he could temporarily hand over charge to his cousin Ram Gopal Yadav, whose name does not figure in the disproportionate assets case.

It would be an uncharacteristic step out of the ring for the wrestler — and contrary to his guru’s teaching. However, Mulayam & Co need to do all they can to hang on to Uttar Pradesh. The Samajwadi Party has no base outside the state. Its ambitions of ruling the country depend entirely on its showing in UP.

A lot of the party’s words and actions spring from that ambition. The rallying cry for them is, “Charo aur macha hai shor, Mulayam chale Dilli ki ore (The word is all around, Mulayam is heading for Delhi)”

After the last Lok Sabha polls, Mulayam was certain he would find a role at the Centre. His ambitions of being either king or kingmaker came unstuck. Party insiders say he cannot forgive the Congress for his ‘no say status’ at the Centre. His friend and colleague Amar Singh is still to get over the humiliation of a dinner hosted by Sonia Gandhi, held after the 2004 LS elections, where he had gone uninvited at CPI(M) leader Harkishen Singh Surjeet’s behest. Sonia did not acknowledge Singh throughout the dinner.

Singh swore revenge then. He has been attacking the Congress president since. He also ascribes all his and his friends troubles to Sonia. He had accused the UPA government of tapping his phone. After the disproportionate assets case came up, he charged Sonia with practicing a politics of vendetta against the Samajwadi Party’s leaders and their supporters like Amitabh Bachchan. Singh also said they would go to court to file a disproportionate assets case against Sonia.

A Congress spokesperson says, “Amar’s anti-Sonia tirade sounds like a case of crying wolf. Few believe them.” And his statement, ‘Now the country is divided into two — those who support Sonia Gandhi and those who oppose her. Those who support her can get away with anything and the second lot would be harassed for everything,’ is an effort to consolidate anti-Sonia forces.

But the SP finds itself friendless. It earlier had some support as other parties were also victims of phone tapping and the office of profit controversy. But now the issue is ‘personal’ (the IT raids and notices). Left with no option they had to return to the readymade time-tested formula of ‘politics of vendetta’. And this too is not paying off.

The Left is divided. The UP unit never wanted Mulayam as an ally and now with AB Bardhan sharing a dais with the VP Singh-Raj Babbar duo, Left support is lacking. In fact the anti-Mulayam bandwagon is growing in size. The latest to join the group is Sharad Yadav of JD(U). Yadav has joined hands with Sone Lal Patel of Apna Dal ‘only to finish Mulayam’. Ram Vilas Paswan, Laloo Prasad Yadav, VP Singh, AB Bardhan, Mayawati and Salman Khursheed are already in opposition to him. His lone ally today is the unpredictable Choudhary Ajit Singh of RLD.

His other friends too have disappeared. Anil Ambani found an easy escape route in the ‘office of profit’ issue to drop the Samajwadi Party tag while Subrato Roy is too embroiled in his own problems to extend a helping hand. The Income Tax department is looking into Sahara’s para-banking, on which the entire Sahara empire is built. Others from the galaxy of industrialists who had initially graced the much-hyped UP Development Council’s meetings have also made a silent exit from the scene.

The pehelwan is fighting to keep his back off the mat.