The Amar-Mulayam-Akhilesh Saga

Twenty five years ago, when Mulayam Singh Yadav founded the Samajwadi Party (SP) after aborting his earlier political experimentations, the idea was to bring an end to him playing second fiddle to others. And sure enough, he has called the shots for a quarter of a century. He probably had not imagined even in his wildest of dreams that the enviable position he had crafted for himself over the decades would be usurped one day by none other than his own son.

What happened last week in Lucknow, when Akhilesh Yadav snatched the party’s crown from his father, was a demonstration of a war of succession in a family – which in this case was also the party. It was no surprise, since successions are always prone to intrigues, conflicts and wars.

The intrigues in the SP (aka Samajwadi Parivar) began soon after Mulayam chose to anoint son Akhilesh as chief minister of the state in 2012, much to the chagrin of his younger brother Shivpal, who had nurtured dreams of receiving the baton.  The idea of a political novice nephew being given precedence was never palatable to Shivpal, but he could not muster up courage to defy the wishes of the elder brother. It was another matter that Mulayam, who was always seen as among the most vocal antagonists of dynastic politics, pushed for his own son. 

Shivpal, however, managed to snatch a big slice in the governance by grabbing multiple lucrative portfolios, while the other contender, Azam Khan, was allowed to run his own writ in the two key ministries under him. With a view to ensuring overall remote control over the son,  Mulayam planted his hand-picked bureaucrat Anita Singh as principal secretary to chief minister . Literally cornered, Akhilesh found solace in seeking the support of the other chacha (Mulayam’s cousin) Ram Gopal Yadav, who actually had his own axe to grind.

All was well for three and a half years when Akhilesh did not resist the interference and pressure from any of these quarters.  That left Uttar Pradesh(UP) to be, in jest, referred to as a state with “five and a half chief ministers’, with Akhilesh qualifying for “half”.

It was at this juncture that the wily Amar Singh once again started knocking at the doors of the party from which he’d been expelled for six years. Akhilesh, Azam and Ram Gopal, each had their own reasons to keep him out and thwarted any moves for his re-entry. However, having maintained his nexus with Mulayam (over whom he once held complete sway), Amar Singh did not give up. He chose to tap Shivpal with whom a deal was allegedly struck – “You get me in and I will get you Akhilesh’s chair.”  

Shivpal’s latent aspirations were ignited yet again, so he moved heaven and earth to bring Amar back into the party fold – that too with a Rajya Sabha seat.  No sooner than he sneaked his way back into SP, Amar Singh began playing his games, which manifested in the form of Akhilesh’s repeated humiliation by his father in public.

What however made him rise to the occasion was the realisation that the chacha was colluding with Amar Singh, to upstage him.  He mustered up courage to declare that he would not take it lying down anymore. Sometime earlier, he managed to get a few bureaucrats of his own choice inducted in key positions, like chief secretary Alok Ranjan and principal secretary (information)  Navneet Sehgal. Both Ranjan and Sehgal assisted Akhilesh in putting some of his dream projects on ground. That included the Lucknow metro-rail, the 301 km Lucknow-Agra access control expressway, a world class cricket stadium and several other social security and women’s safety measures, which helped him to build ‘brand Akhilesh’.

Ironically, just as Akhilesh was emerging out of the shadows, father Mulayam got down to running him down regularly. As an “obedient” son, he took all that with a smile and refrained from any show of defiance. However, his silence was misconstrued as his weakness. Led by Amar Singh and Shivpal, the anti-Akhilesh lobby acquired greater strength with Mulayam’s second wife, Sadhana, also pitching in together with Mulayam’s blue-eyed bureaucrat Anita Singh ,who could undermine Akhilesh at every step.

This ‘lobby of four’ found it easy to prevail over Mulayam, who was already bogged down with age-related issues that have made him forgetful and weak . It was on account of Mulayam’s emotional ups and downs, and occasional love for his son that prompted him to do the

balancing act. That was precisely how it played out in October 2016, when Mulayam sent the message loud and clear that Akhilesh alone would inherit his political legacy. But what followed over the next few weeks was another reversal of the situation under the obvious influence of the same anti-Akhilesh lobby.

Time was running out so he got into the act with friend-philosopher-guide Ram Gopal  Yadav behind him . Ultimately, Ram Gopal, who already crossed swords with both Shivpal and Amar Singh, used the political machinations he’d learnt from Mulayam, whom he had seen  upstaging  mentors and associates in the past.  Akhilesh skillfully managed to elicit the support of not just 200 of the 229 party MLAs, but also the bulk of the members of Parliament and other SP veterans who, until yesterday , swore by Mulayam. Yet, by not showing any disrespect to the father, the 43- year old chief minister gathered more brownie points.

With state assembly elections barely five weeks from now, the party was hardly in a position to retrieve the ground lost on account of the repeated strife and recurrent self-goals. Akhilesh’s assertion did earn him kudos for rising from a “half” chief minister to a “leader”. His achievements on “development” too could further enhance his credibility to take on the mighty “development”-oriented Narendra Modi, with all his promises of “good” and “clean” governance – but for a badly-divided house that Samajwadi Party has been reduced to.   

The latest bone of contention is the party’s symbol – the cycle which, going by precedent, is likely to be frozen by the election commission . Five weeks is surely not sufficient time for any political outfit to spread the word about a new symbol. That would mean advantage Bharatiya Janata Party or for that matter even Bahujan Samaj Party, which could benefit on account of some shift of the Muslim vote that was the core support base of SP.

As for the party’s internal wars, it could still go on  – for control over the party – post 2017, when it will hopefully rise beyond family.