Keeping up with UP | Akhilesh’s takeover of SP is complete. Time to gear up

Despite being the main Opposition in Uttar Pradesh, there are several challenges ahead for the party as Akhilesh finally takes over the party, to take on the political hegemon in BJP.

It took three dramatic elections for Akhilesh Yadav, the scion of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and son of founder-president Mulayam Singh Yadav, to take over the party that his father had founded on October 4, 1992 to challenge the resurgent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that was riding a countrywide Ram Mandir wave.

Three decades later, Akhilesh managed to finally step into his father's shoes without much controversy.  (Deepak Gupta/HT Photo)

Three decades later, Akhilesh managed to finally step into his father's shoes without much controversy. However, the challenges that his father faced in the 1990s have grown bigger and tougher. The BJP is more aggressive and stronger, and the polity is highly communalised and polarised.

Mulayam had become a political untouchable after his government opened firing on irate kar sevaks in Ayodhya in October-November 1990 to protect the disputed Ram Janmabhoomi/Babri Masjid structure. Mulayam justified his government's action, which he said he needed to preserve the unity of the country. The shrine eventually fell on December 6, 1992.

Much water has flowed down the Saryu since then, with the Supreme Court order paving the way for the construction of a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya. Mulayam regretted firing on kar sevaks but could not shed the Maulana (pro-Muslim) tag that he acquired during the temple movement.

However, not much has changed for the new president of the Samajwadi Party Akhilesh Yadav, who, despite various steps taken to project a more progressive image and clear the party of Yadav-Muslim tag, faces the challenge of broadening the party's caste alliances in a highly polarised society.

Unlike his soft public demeanour in the past, Akhilesh appeared more aggressive at the September 28-29 national convention. Perhaps the belligerent tone was meant to pump adrenalin into the party cadre who face multiple challenges from the ruling as well as the rival Opposition parties.

The demolition of the party office in Mulayam’s Lok Sabha constituency of Mainpuri, the day he was elected party's national president, is just a trailer of the challenges ahead. Perhaps it was at the back of his mind when he exhorted the cadre to be ready to go to jail.

Can he keep his organisational machinery oiled as his father used to? As of now, a move is on to discredit him as a “drawing room politician who does tweet politics”. His dharna and demonstration during the recently concluded monsoon session of the Uttar Pradesh assembly charged the cadre, but experts believe that the tempo must go on till the 2024 elections.

What gives strength to the workers’ resolve is the belief that the SP will remain a major player in the politics of the Opposition against the BJP and as many believe the road to power goes via Uttar Pradesh.

Akhilesh's journey

Akhilesh’s takeover of the party, scripted by a crafty Mulayam in 2012, is finally complete.

Notwithstanding Mulayam’s flip-flops since he first handed over chief ministership to his son in 2012 despite strong reservations of his younger brother Shivpal Singh Yadav, everyone in the party knew the neta’s game plan of promoting the newer generation over the old guards. He once told me that he and Shivpal will now take a backseat, letting the young blood infuse new life with new ideas into the party. But this was not to happen.

When Mulayam was torn between his son and brother, he often gave mixed signals, but all his actions and decisions reflected his desire to see the party flourishing. Two of his brothers, who live in Saifai, also supported his decision to hand over his political legacy to Akhilesh even though they didn't have much of a voice in political matters.

Akhilesh became the party’s national president the first time on January 1, 2017, at the party’s emergency meeting convened in Lucknow amid a major upheaval in the Yadav family, in which four players — Mulayam Singh Yadav, Ram Gopal Yadav, Shivpal Singh Yadav, and Akhilesh Yadav — were taking acrimonious decisions, stripping each other of power and positions. The late Amar Singh played games from behind the curtains.

Amid a raucous atmosphere, Ram Gopal Yadav convened an extraordinary emergency national convention at Janeshwar Mishra Park, where Akhilesh was elected national president. Mulayam was himself not present at the convention, but had sent his trusted senior leaders to help in Akhilesh’s election. However, Akhilesh was accused of snatching the party from his father, which later became a poll issue in the elections.

The convention also sacked Shivpal Yadav from the party's state presidentship and a split in the party looked imminent as the matter went to the Election Commission (EC). Naresh Uttam was appointed state president. Both the teams met the EC, Mulayam accompanied Shivpal, but met the EC alone. And the verdict came in favour of the faction led by Akhilesh, who was elected the second time at the party’s national convention in Agra on October 5, 2017. To date people joke about how the whole thing transpired, by saying something along the lines of this: “No one can understand the games maverick Mulayam plays. He went to the ECwith Shivpal, but won the party symbol for Akhilesh.”

Now leaving the family drama behind, Akhilesh is firmly in the saddle after his election for the third time on September 29, 2022.

An ailing Mulayam must be a contented man as he had once said that no one in his family wanted the party to split exuding confidence that the SP and the Yadav family will remain one.

The third generation of the family, including Dharmendra Yadav, Akshay Yadav, Tej Pratap Yadav, and Anurag Yadav, were present at the recent national convention in Lucknow. As for the detractors, while Akhilesh’s sister-in-law Aparna Yadav has already joined the BJP, uncle Shivpal is standing right at the entrance of the BJP camp. As of now, he and his son Aaditya are strengthening Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party with the prime aim to damage the SP and Akhilesh in the polls. And this is clear as day.

Messaging

Much is being read into Akhilesh’s statement of bringing together the Lohiavadis and the Ambedkarvadis. Many see it as his offer for an alliance to Mayawati. The SP and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had allied for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

It is a message to Dalits, who the political analysts believe, feel orphaned after Mayawati’s clear withdrawal from active politics. The BJP’s welfare schemes have lured them towards the saffron party. Now, in this context,-Akhilesh is also trying to dilute the common belief about the traditional antagonism between Yadavs and Dalits.

With most of the castes and sub-castes aligned to different political parties, the Dalit vote is still up in the air. They have a soft corner for BSP chief Mayawati but they want to see her as belligerent as she was in the 1990s when the BSP was growing.

His second message was to his cadre, which is feeling the heat of the administration. He was telling them to remain prepared for sacrifice in the coming days.

The family drama may be over, but a more intense political play will be on.

From her perch in Lucknow, HT’s resident editor Sunita Aron highlights important issues related to the elections in Uttar Pradesh