RIDE WITH THE TIDE

Akhilesh Yadav has stitched together a formidable coalition with small, caste-based parties. His task of leading the Samajwadi Party back to power, however, remains challenging because of the fickle nature of his partners and dissatisfaction among leaders of his own party

- PUJA AWASTHI

Just as in life, in politics, too, there is a tide in the affairs of men.

In the Uttar Pradesh’s assembly elections, the overriding perception is that Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav is the man most likely to benefit from this tide.

Yadav is the complete antithesis of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. This is most marked in the language he uses during the election campaign. He does not make comments like garmi nikaal denge (will take the heat out), but responds with witty quips. In this case, for instance, he asked whether Adityanath was a compressor to perform such mechanical feats.

The loss in the 2017 assembly elections and the dismal showing in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls had left Yadav embittered. After the losses, party men recall, he cut himself off from all contact within the party. The 2019 results were especially painful, as his wife Dimple lost from Kannauj, the same city from where he launched a specially made ‘Samajwadi ittr (fragrance)’.

In this election, Yadav is on his own. In 2012, although he had almost single-handedly stitched together all the elements that ousted the Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government, he was not the party’s chief ministerial face. His 10,000-km yatra through the state had even earned the admiration of Rahul Gandhi who was unable to forge the people connect that Yadav seemed so adept at doing.

The change was visible on the ground then, with him denying tickets to strongmen such as Dharam Pal Yadav. And then there was his humility. After the victory, he quickly dismissed speculation that the new government would demolish statues and memorials built by Mayawati, saying that the vacant spaces would be used for public facilities such as hospitals.