Mahabharat in UP’s Yaduvansh Spells Trouble for Akhilesh Yadav

Mulayam Singh doubts Akhilesh’s ability to swing the 2017 UP polls the SP’s way, writes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.

Several Indian politicians have married more than once and entered into extra-marital relationships. Their marital equations cast a shadow on their political fortunes and woes, but it has seldom been discussed in public as a factor behind the melodrama. Former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam supremo MK Karunanidhi wed thrice and has children from all three wives.

While the son born to his first wed, MK Muthu, has stayed away from politics, two sons MK Alagiri, MK Stalin – from his second wife – and daughter Kanimozhi, born to his third wife, have been in politics and there was a keen tussle about succession till it was decided in favour of Stalin.

Also Read: In UP’s Yadav Feud, Akhilesh Acted After Mulayam’s Flip-Flop

The Yadavs at War

• Mulayam’s second wife, Sadhna Gupta, changes equations across the Yadav clan as she seeks compensation for not being acknowledged publicly.
  
• Sadhna launches a front along with Amar Singh, SP MLA Gayatri Prasad Prajapati and Shivpal Yadav, the latter using the turmoil to his advantage.
  
• Yadav patriarch Mulayam believes that Akhilesh’s goodwill may not be enough to win votes in 2017.
  
• Tussle within the Yadav family between the old school and the aspirational continues as Mulayam falls back on the age-old card of identity politics.
  

Ambitions of Mulayam’s Extended Family

Mulayam Singh Yadav’s marital and progeny-related issues are not as complicated but these are currently having a huge impact on developments within the Samajwadi Party and may even jeopardise the party’s prospects in the forthcoming assembly elections.

The SP supremo married twice; the first time it was arranged by the family when he was a teenager and the other was self-arranged when he was an emerging politician and struck a relationship with his current wife who was from the Bania caste and an aspiring politician. He has two sons, Akhilesh from his first wife who died in 2003, and Prateek from his second wife. But Mulayam did not make his relationship with Sadhna Gupta (Yadav) public till the death of his first wife, Malti Devi, and this effectively meant that Prateek had to live for the first 15 years of his life without being able to declare his father’s name in public.

Since her marriage, Sadhna has developed political ambitions and business interests of her own and also for her son. She possibly seeks compensation for not being acknowledged by Mulayam Singh in public as his wife and Prateek’s father.

She leverages her position through Amar Singh, Gayatri Prasad Prajapati and most importantly Shivpal Yadav who in turn uses her to keep Akhilesh in check. The chief minister has another of Mulayam Singh’s brothers, Ram Gopal Yadav, as his mentor.

While Prateek has so far not displayed any interest in politics, his wife, Aparna, who is also the daughter of a former journalist, now the UP Information Commissioner, has displayed an interest in contesting the polls. All the five Lok Sabha members of SP are part of the same clan and collectively there are almost a score of them whose ambitions have to be accommodated by the patriarch or the senior Yadav.

Also Read: Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Smartphone Scheme: All You Need to Know

Aspirational Class Versus Old School

Though this Mahabharata-like situation in the Yaduvansh of modern political UP cannot be denied, there is also a more elevated form of viewing the alternating developments over the past few months. UP, if one theorises, is among the states where the transition of political culture is among the slowest. Unlike several other more urbanised states, modernity as an idea and tactic is deficient in UP, like in Bihar. Consequently, while one section of the people of the state can be given the label of the now accepted “aspirational” group, the other comprises the old school.

Undeniably, if KN Govindacharya immortalised the idea of mask or mukhauta for Atal Bihari Vajpayee, it would not be wrong to argue that Akhilesh as chief minister is SP’s mask, that its actual politics lies with the likes of Mukhtar Ansari and his Quami Ekta Dal as fellow travellers.

From the manner in which the events have shaped up in SP, it is clear that Mulayam Singh believes that while Akhilesh’s style of administration is suitable in power, his methods alone will not suffice to make a serious bid to win another term. You can distribute laptops and modernise education to win kudos for government but this does not get votes, is his reasoning.

The party has, therefore, fallen on the old style of securing support by the liberal use of identity politics and muscle power backed by the underworld.

Will Akhilesh's Goodwill Count?

In recent months, there has been a broad consensus that whatever the SP’s public image, as far as Akhilesh is concerned, he has been able to secure a fair amount of goodwill by projecting relatively a sober and responsible image by not indulging in any form of loose talk. Within the SP, Akhilesh has always been the contrarian but while this image helps the party to ward off charges of corruption and nepotism which have undeniably continued, his father now reasons that this will not be enough to benefit during the campaign.

Return of Identity Politics

Mulayam Singh’s choice, which now forces Akhilesh to either play second fiddle or look for alternative options (hardly likely though), suggests that the veteran’s reading is that the elections this time will again be contested on old lines with identity, social polarisation and ultra-nationalism being the primary issues. In such a situation, getting into the battle with a suave Akhilesh as general may not be a good idea. You require people who do not shy, proverbially speaking, from getting ‘blood on their teeth, death on their mind’.

In the event of the SP managing to sneak in from behind and securing a surprise win, Akhilesh can always be resurrected. Till that time, Mulayam Singh will play along with Shivpal Yadav and Sadhna Gupta, leaving Akhilesh and Ram Gopal Yadav feeling stifled. The choices for this duo are limited and, in all probability, the two will sulk for a while before falling in line, hoping for the storm over them to clear and wait for a new day.

Akhilesh has one advantage – at 43, he has time on his side and compared to his half-brother, a greater interest in politics. Even if the SP loses this time, there will be another occasion for the chief minister. At that time, he may well be the supremo.

(The writer is an author and journalist based in Delhi. His most recent books are ‘Sikhs: The Untold Agony of 1984’ and ‘Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times’. He can be reached at @NilanjanUdwin. This is an opinion piece and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)

Also Read: After Punishing Perpetrators, Can Modi Get Back to Vikas Agenda?