Mulayam's many mistakes, and how they've made Akhilesh's life difficult

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This episode has made Mulayam's image as the Chanakya of UP politics fade a bit. But a close look at Mulayam's past would make one realise that a lot of folklore about him and his charkha dao is not just exaggerated, but that his decisions have regularly boomeranged.

Mulayam owes his rise in politics to two events - first, he pipped Ajit Singh to the post of Chief Minister of the Janata Dal government in 1989, and then, the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya was demolished in 1992, which shifted the Muslim votes in the state to him.

Despite his lack of oratory skills, Mulayam, to this day, continues to reap the harvest from these two events, and dreams of transforming himself into a statesman. Even today, he recalls the Babri episode and the fact that his regime had fired on RSS's karsewaks in 1990 - thus undercutting Akhilesh's attempts at contesting elections on the development plank.

Bevy of mistakes

• Mulayam relied so heavily on his Man Friday Amar Singh that it forced other Samajwadi Party stalwarts like Raj Babbar, Beni Prasad Verma and Azam Khan into oblivion. After 14 years of the Amar Singh show, the leader was finally expelled after pressure from Akhilesh, but was brought back and rehabilitated with a Rajya Sabha berth. In the present crisis, Akhilesh has referred to interference by an 'outsider' in the family's affairs - a probable reference to Amar Singh.
• In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, Mulayam committed hara kiri by bringing Kalyan Singh, the BJP leader who was then estranged from the saffron party, into the SP. At a special national convention in Agra, Mulayam asked his party workers to raise the slogan of 'Kalyan Singh zindabad', but when no one did, he was forced to raise it himself. The result was that not a single Muslim candidate won on an SP ticket in the polls. Though Mulayam dumped Kalyan later, this episode is brought up again and again by Netaji's detractors.
• After the SP's landslide victory in the 2012 Assembly polls, Akhilesh was crowned as CM. But Mulayam doesn't let go of a single opportunity to claim credit for the victory. In fact, having been the CM three times, Mulayam cannot claim to have got himself a majority even once. And that's not all - Mulayam has forced Akhilesh to retain many of his old ministers and loyal officials. This left little scope for Akhilesh to function independently.
• Then came the 2012 Presidential elections, where Mulayam changed his stand so frequently that it forced other politicians to maintain distance from him. It spoilt the SP's chemistry with other parties, in particular the Trinamool Congress.
• In 2015, Mulayam again left Akhilesh red-faced when he came up with the idea of merging his party with five other Janata Dal fragments to revive the Janata Party. Everyone knew that it meant end of the SP in UP, but Mulayam remained in a fool's paradise, in a bid to become a national leader. After much damage had been caused, the proposal was dropped. But Mulayam again left Akhilesh in the lurch when he parted ways with the Nitish Kumar-led grand alliance in Bihar. Even today, the Bihar CM tours UP independently, and regularly targets the SP.
• Mulayam again directly attacked Akhilesh and sacked two of his loyalists - Sunil Singh Yadav 'Sajan' and Anand Bhadauria from the party. Akhilesh was so annoyed that he abstained from the opening ceremony of the grand Saifai Mahotsav in the family's ancestral town. But Mulayam had to backtrack and take the two back into the party fold. Both are now MLCs.
• Mulayam's decision have often forced Akhilesh to take U-turns, tarnishing his image of a bold and firm CM. When Akhilesh sacked ministers like Raja Bhaiyya, Narad Rai and Balram Yadav, all were reinducted after making the rounds of Mulayam's residence.
• Mulayam's consent to allow the merger of the Qaumi Ekta Dal, which is led by gangster Mukhtar Ansari's brother, spoilt the clean image of Akhilesh, which he had earned by blocking the entry of strongman DP Yadav into the party.
• Mulayam's regular outbursts against the SP government, blaming ministers for not working, have left Akhilesh in a difficult position. The parallel power centre he has created has left Akhilesh unable to defend himself or the government.

Edited by Shreyas Sharma

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