Unity in shambles, defeat stares SP in the face

Many had thought the tussle within the ruling Yadav family of Uttar Pradesh was a fixed match when the differences came out in the open some two months ago. Now we know better. It’s a serious battle of political supremacy between Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and senior party leader and his uncle Shivpal Yadav. The victor keeps changing with every round of the bout. The real winner will be known only after the result of the 2017 Assembly election is out. But the feud has a personal angle too. Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav has yet to accept the fact that his son and Chief Minister has grown out of his shadows. The little Tipu he had known and nurtured in later years to be a politician, is his own man today. Part of the reason is that Akhilesh Yadav has grown in confidence and part is that he cannot be seen as a weak Chief Minister, especially when the party is in election mode. Mulayam Singh Yadav is feeling let down that the man whom he backed to be Chief Minister in 2012, should now be challenging him via Shivpal Yadav. He feels the itch constantly to remind his son of this reality and has lost no occasion to even publicly upbraid him for supposed governance failures. In the process, Mulayam Singh Yadav has made it known that he is on his brother’s side, and on the side of all those like Amar Singh who are with his brother. While he pulls up the Chief Minister for his failures and questions his ‘stature’ as a grassroots leader, he showers praise on his brother for contributions made to the party’s rise over the decades. In other words, Akhilesh Yadav is a mere recipient of his generosity, a dummy who should behave like one. Unfortunately for him, the Chief Minister is in no mood to oblige. Normally, a father ought to be proud of his son’s achievements, and of the fact that the son has established his own ground. But Mulayam Singh Yadav is not just a father but also a politician. He perhaps believes that the rising stock of the son is at the cost of his own hold over the party. The unsavoury incident which played out days ago in his presence, where the Chief Minister and his uncle clashed on the stage while their respective supporters created a ruckus inside and outside the meeting venue, is a telling example of that weakening hold. Both the sides have, meanwhile, found a scapegoat. The Chief Minister’s camp, and indeed the Chief Minister himself, blames Amar Singh for the differences that have erupted within the family. Amar Singh has been called an ‘outsider’ who is out to break the family. The Shivpal Yadav group considers it an ‘insider’ job, accusing Ramgopal Yadav, the Chief Minister’s other uncle, of causing the rift. Ramgopal Yadav has since been suspended from the party, while Amar Singh remains. Mulayam Singh Yadav expressed gratitude to him for having saved him from being imprisoned. The fact is, even back in 2012, when neither Amar Singh nor Ramgopal Yadav was accused of wrecking family unity, the differences between Shivpal Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav were evident. The former was never in favour of having Akhilesh Yadav as the Chief Minister. He had the support of other party veterans including Mohammed Azam Khan. But realising that the election had been won by projecting Akhilesh Yadav’s face, and that Mulayam Singh Yadav was amenable to the idea of having Akhilesh Yadav as Chief Minister, he had relented. Since then, however, he has shared an uneasy relationship with his nephew. This is not to defend either Amar Singh or Ramgopal Yadav. They may have played a role in worsening the situation, but circumstances already existed for the rift. At the most, the two leaders can be accused of exploiting the situation. An even-handed approach would have to be act against both, but Mulayam Singh Yadav brought the hammer down only on Ramgopal Yadav — who has now made it his mission to get another term for Akhilesh Yadav as Chief Minister — and not on Amar Singh. What does the fracas mean for the party’s prospects in the coming election? With both the rival camps determined to sabotage each other’s designs, the rank and file of the Samajwadi Party is torn apart in loyalty. It will certainly impact the party’s electoral chances. Already, there are indications that one of its solid vote-banks, the Muslim community, will cast its lot with the Bahujan Samaj Party. The Congress is too weak for the Muslim voters to be banked on, and the Bharatiya Janata Party is taboo. If this indeed happens, the Samajwadi Party can say goodbye to another term in office. Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs and views expressed by the various authors and forum participants on this website are personal and do not reflect the opinions, beliefs and views of ABP News Network Pvt Ltd.