The political sage of the UP : Mulayam Sinh Yadav

  

The political sage of the UP:

Mulayam Sinh Yadav:

The founder and patron of the Samajwadi Party, Mulayam Singh Yadav was an Indian politician who lived from 22 November 1939 to 10 October 2022. He held the positions of Minister of Defence for the Government of India and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh for three separate but concurrent terms. He won seven elections to the Lok Sabha of India's Parliament and ten elections as an MLA to the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly. He had served in parliament for a number of years and, at the time of his death in 2022, was the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Mainpuri seat in the Lok Sabha. He had previously served as the MP for Azamgarh and Sambhal.

Party officials and members frequently referred to Mulayam Singh Yadav as Netaji, which is Hindi for "respected leader."

A time when Mulayam Singh Yadav was affectionately referred to as "Netaji" by his supporters, party members, and friends has come to an end with his death in Uttar Pradesh. Without him, it is impossible to imagine UP politics. Despite the setbacks that the turbulent politics of the heartland inevitably bring, he ruled for more than 50 years before becoming ill and losing his position of power. He was elected to the legislature ten times from different socialist formations, served as a Lok Sabha MP seven times, was three times the chief minister of the state of Uttar Pradesh, and served as the nation's defence minister once during the United Front regime, which was regarded as the pinnacle of his career.

Despite having a stellar resume, Mulayam's legacy cannot be compared to the places that his assiduity, talent, and tenacity earned him. His ideological foundations, which distinguished him from the majority of non-BJP politicians during a certain period in UP's political history, become brittle once his survival instincts gained control. To shake off the amoeba-like socialist organisms that vanished as quickly as they appeared, he founded the Samajwadi Party on October 4, 1992. But the legacy he leaves behind as the party's leader derives its significance from the profound and currently irreversible changes brought about by a single and singular action led by a former prime minister, VP Singh.

Singh may have recommended the Mandal Commission proposals because of his own desperation to save his position in the face of pressures from the BJP and internal problems within the Janata Dal that put his minority government under attack. The group, which was formed to determine the "socially and educationally backward castes," suggested 27% OBC job reservation, including PSUs. The recommendation and its potential implementation signalled the beginning of OBC empowerment in North India, a process that was also carried out in the southern states and some regions of the west before and after Independence.

For the first time, political empowerment for the marginalised non-upper castes of North India coincided with reservation in employment.

Mulayam, Lalu Prasad, and Kalyan Singh were the greatest and most direct benefactors of Singh's "radical" project. Later, a large number of people benefited as well, including these three's legatees and BJP leaders, including Modi. The BJP adopted the suggestion and the spread of Hindutva-centered politics after astutely recognising the ramifications of the Mandal move. Although the "Hindutva Renaissance" may have had a big role in Modi's ascent to power, he actually tapped into OBC strength because he hails from one of Gujarat's more backward castes.

As the minister of cooperatives in the Ram Naresh Yadav-led Janata Party administration in Uttar Pradesh, Mulayam had already gotten a taste of OBC power. He increased the number of agricultural and dairy cooperatives, worked with the Yadavs, who were influential in both industries, and attempted to challenge the upper castes' dominance. For the Yadavs, it was a small piece of a large pie, but the bestowal made them desperate for more pie. The caste conflicts spilled onto the streets of Etawah, the city where Mulayam was born.

Mulayam was the ideal candidate to take on his opponents' overwhelming physical strength because he was a skilled wrestler.

While Mulayamand Lalu Prasad's political plans for Bihar were comparable, their approaches to dealing with the problems presented by a burgeoning BJP and the rise of Hindu nationalism were very different. Because he used police force to stop the BJP from laying siege to the Babri mosque in 1990, some people would consider that year to be the pinnacle of Mulayam's professional career.

The incidents cost him dearly in the election. In fact, Mulayam was compelled to team up with the BSP and form an OBC Dalit-Muslim alliance to oppose the BJP in the elections that followed the eventual Babri demolition in 1992 (under a BJP administration). The SP-BSP narrowly prevailed in the 1993 election, but Mulayam was unable to overlook the conflicts the caste alliance brought about. Rural violence developed from the tensions between the upwardly mobile Yadavs and the Dalits because they refused to accept the Dalits' ascent.

With the higher castes still controlling at the top of UP's highly stratified caste hierarchy, there was little room for inter-caste movement, let alone integration.

Even in his prime, the majority of Mulayam's communist allies were "savarnas," not Dalits. He most likely acquired his dislike of Dalits from his caste background. Lalu Prasad, on the other hand, was more successful in Bihar than Mulayam up until he was engulfed in fraud allegations because he was able to more easily forge a coalition of the OBCs, especially the more and extremely backward castes, and Dalits.

Realpolitik and survival were Mulayam's top priorities in his later years. The BJP was the main opposition force, and by reaching an accommodation with it in 2003 under the Vajpayee administration, an SP government was able to be installed in Lucknow. He gave the BJP some back by allowing Kesri Nath Tripathi to serve as Speaker for an additional year after Tripathi's term ended.

By this point, Mulayam's close relationship with Amar Singh, a troublemaker who later became his political confidant, had blurred his political roots and provided him with access to Mumbai's corporate sector and Bollywood. Keeping company with socialist luminaries like Janeshwar Mishra and Kapildeo Singh, the leader felt at ease around Amitabh Bachchan and Anil Ambani.

He had to put up with the scourge of dynastic politics in his later years. The rise of his son Akhilesh sparked a savage family quarrel that resulted in the SP's dissolution.

By that time, the BJP had largely consumed its OBC support base. For Mulayam, politics had come full circle. Who knows when the clock's hands will start to turn once more in the SP's favour? No one knows what happens and when happens in politics.