What's eating Mulayam Singh Yadav?
Three crucial developments have taken place in the last one month which revolve around Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav. All of them go to prove Mulayam's worry over development and law and order situation ahead of the upcoming panchayat elections later this year in Uttar Pradesh and the Assembly polls in the state in early 2017.
1. Taking Akhilesh to task
For the third time within a month, Mulayam on September 6, took his son and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav to task publicly over governance in the state. In a dramatic manner, the SP patriarch asked Akhilesh to stay ahead of deadlines and strive to complete work before schedule. Participating in the foundation stone-laying ceremony of Sainik School in Mainpuri, Mulayam asked the chief minister to finish the project within eight months when Akhilesh said the project would be completed in exactly a year.
Similarly, while launching 26 new projects in Mau on August 31 along with Akhilesh, Mulayam rebuked the ministers and party leaders saying they would definitely lose the 2017 Assembly polls if they did not perform at the ground level. He also gave them a month's time to mend their ways.
It was in Lucknow on August 5 that Akhilesh would have been scolded the hardest by his father in a public event in recent times. He was quoted as telling a visibly embarrassed Akhilesh, "You are surrounded by self-seeking bureaucrats and sycophants." While speaking at an official event, Mulayam suddenly turned to his son and asked about the aid granted by the Centre for floods in the state. The chief minister was seen talking to someone else and he missed the question. This infuriated the senior Yadav who lost his cool and reprimanded his son.
Mulayam could have done this privately or at the most at party forum behind closed doors. This shows that his rebukes are intentional and are meant to send a message to Akhilesh, his government, SP leaders and the people at large. Anyone following UP politics closely would say it is the former wrestler's public posturing and part of his smart politics. Had he been serious, he would have taken some kind of action against those who are not standing up to his expectations.
Mulayam is playing the role of a conscience-keeper by admonishing his party's government before others do, thus, blunting any attack. His action can be compared to those of Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi, when his party led the UPA 2 government at the Centre, or to the BJP's parent organisation Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Rahul had on September 27, 2013 strongly opposed the government's position on an ordinance which sought to negate a Supreme Court order that debarred convicted lawmakers from continuing in office. "In my opinion, the ordinance is complete nonsense… It should be torn up and thrown out," Rahul said, and added that the government took a wrong decision in approving the ordinance proposal. Rahul had aired the public perception and tried to save the government from further embarrassment and protests.
Similarly, the RSS and its several wings separately present a critique of the NDA government's policies. They did it even during Atal Bihari Vajpayee's regime, even holding protests against the government's decisions at times. Mulayam is playing the same role now that his son is the chief minister. His censures are a reflection of the public perception and he seeks to function as a safety valve, airing the grievances of the people.
2. Walking out of "maha-gathbandhan"
In a shocking decision, the SP pulled out of the grand alliance of Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United), Lalu Prasad's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and the Congress on September 3, within a fortnight of Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) walking out of it in a huff. On the face of it, both the SP and NCP pulled out of the grand alliance after being "insulted" in the seat-sharing formula. But Mulayam's reasons for quitting the Bihar alliance was more than what meets the eye.
On June 8, the Janata Parivar - a coalition of SP, JD(U), RJD, Janata Dal Secular (JD-S), the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the Samajwadi Janata Party (SJP) - had decided to contest the forthcoming Assembly elections in Bihar with incumbent chief minister Nitish Kumar as its face. When the announcement was made by Mulayam in his capacity as the Parivar's chairperson, the Congress was not a part of the alliance. It was later that Lalu and Nitish included the Congress too in the Bihar-specific "maha-gathbandhan" without Mulayam's explicit nod. This angered the Parivar chief and he threw a hint by skipping the grand alliance's Swabhiman Rally in Patna on August 30. And on September 3, his party exited the Parivar, dealing a severe blow to Lalu and Nitish.
Mulayam is aware that the SP will have to contest the 2017 UP elections against the Congress and he does not want to be seen in the same side of that national party. He believes that because of the "wrong policies" of the Congress, the BJP had come to power at the Centre.
3. Downplaying law and order situation
On August 17, while distributing e-rickshaws in Lucknow, Mulayam made an outrageous remark saying that it was impossible for four men to rape a woman together. Quoting the Badaun rape case, he claimed it was blown out of proportion. Mulayam's statement was outright deplorable and a local court in UP has even summoned him. But his statement should be seen in the context of the failure of the state government to tackle the law and order situation. The state is getting a dubious distinction of remaining in news for a number of communal clashes, including the 2013 riots in Muzaffarnagar, and incidents of rapes and murders ever since Akhilesh took over the reins. This has worried Mulayam. He tried to underplay the incidents of rape when he said, "The CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) probed the case and found that rape was not committed at all. They were cold-blooded murders by the victim's cousins for property. But even senior leaders like Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son Rahul rushed to Badaun and attacked the state government at the law and order front… Innocents must not be implicated and harassed. There are cases, where a victim has accused four brothers of raping her. It is impossible for four people to rape someone together. It is not practical."
It will not be a wonder if, in the coming days, Mulayam says or does something which suprises one and all - from one-time alliance partner Congress, Janata Parivar constituents, "samdhi" Lalu and his own son Akhilesh to the political pundits.