LUCKNOW: A flock of red-capped Samajwadi Party (SP) workers swarmed on Vikramaditya Marg, outside SP’s Lucknow headquarters (HQ) on September 12 morning, minutes before the Samajwadi Kranti Rath Yatra was flagged off. Akhilesh Yadav heralded this three-month-long, multi-phase political pilgrimage, which party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav (MSY) personally planned for him, to mobilise the people against Mayawati and seek their support for the 2012 assembly polls.
The yatra’s importance was palpable when MSY, ignoring advice of his security detail, strode to the gate of the building to scold the some SUV drivers who blocked the rath. It was clear MSY was leaving no stone unturned to secure his son’s political future.
The emotional tenor of the yatra was set by MSY’s brother Shivpal Yadav, Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly. His eyes moistened as he announced a `5 lakh donation for the yatra. Senior leaders like Mohan Singh and Mohd. Azam Khan heaped praises upon the scion, saying, “Akhilesh has learnt combative skills from his father, and would be successful in the coming battle.” The occasion had ritualistic aura: senior leaders and elders blessed the rising son, as if they were going to a real battlefield.
In the poll buildup, most parties are planning their own yatras. The Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), confined to a few districts in UP’s western fringes will hold one, while BJP, struggling hard to reestablish its hold in the state, has announced a slew of regional yatras that will start soon. In October, party veteran L K Advani’s nationwide yatra will also travel through the state.
This is Akhilesh’s second rath yatra. He undertook a similar one in 2001 (before the 2002 assembly polls) as a debutant. Over the years, he’s matured as a leader, having won three Lok Sabha polls since 2002, two by-elections—in 2004 and 2009—and heads SP’s state unit. Slowly but steadily, like the proverbial tortoise, he’s stepped into his father’s shoes to emerge as SP’s CM candidate. (Akhilesh’s novel ideas are exemplified in his determination to ride on bicycles during his yatra in rural areas, when most senior SP leaders were unanimous about using an improvised, air conditioned Tata bus.)
As soon as Akhilesh’s Kranti Rath rolled out of the party HQ, followed by swank cars and SUVs, workers, supporters and the public, in particular members of the minority community, lined up on roadsides to wave and support Akhilesh. He greeted them with folded hands, standing atop a hydraulic elevator. In whistle-stop, roadside meetings, he appealed to people to “dislodge this corrupt BSP government”. It took more than four hours for the rath to reach Banthara, about 25 km from Lucknow, but his supporters waited for him all along the route and cheered wildly. So eager were the people to receive and hail Akhilesh’s rath, that it took almost a day to reach Kanpur, only 83 km from Lucknow.
Next morning, along with hundreds of workers, he peddled from the historic Phoolbagh ground to Unnao, covering nearly 35 km in one stretch. “If the mood of the people at Akhilesh’s yatra is any indication, it should be a cause of concern for the BSP and its Chief Minister, Mayawati,” observed Manoj Tripathi, a retired bank officer in Kanpur, where Muslims had come out in large numbers in support. SP, which suffered a major setback when Dimple Yadav, wife of Akhilesh, lost the Ferozabad by-election to Congress’s Raj Babbar in 2009, is upbeat. The myth that circulated after this loss was that if family members of the SP supremo lose, the party was destined to sink. At last, this myth seems to be losing its grip, as the demoralisation which had set in the party is replaced by enthusiasm and a will to win. Party rank-and-file have already started “smelling power in their striking range”, what with Congress’s image stained by recent turn of events.
Compared to other parties, including the Congress and the BJP, the SP is better organised to face the election. It has already declared almost all the names of its candidates. The party leadership has also projected itself as the only alternative of the BSP in a focused manner. The truth remains, however, that SP has not been able to expand its social base and remains confined to M-Y (Muslim-Yadav) supporters. “This is a wrong impression,” said Akhilesh during the yatra. “SP is getting support from farmers, youth, lawyers and businessmen—all sections of society—because UP is reeling under the corrupt BSP regime and the people have realised that only SP has the potential to vanquish the corrupt and the incompetent and form a government on its own.”
Akhilesh realises the importance of this election to SP’s future. For successive regimes, SP has been out of power at the Centre, despite having 36 MPs in 2004 and 23 in 2009. At the state level too, if it does not regain power in 2012, hopelessness and demoralisation would set in the party. Besides, this election season will see the handing over of the baton from SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav to son Akhilesh, reaffirming the role of dynasties in Indian politics.
