Mulayam Singh Yadav, whose final rites were performed on Tuesday, was among the tallest leaders of a bygone, power-packed era. He was past his prime, mostly cooling his heels after he anointed his son, Akhilesh Yadav, as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in 2012 and lost control of his own Samajwadi Party in 2017. Mulayam was an astute politician, having started as a socialist in the Ram Manohar Lohia mould, changed parties, cobbled unprincipled ties, became chief minister thrice and functioned once as central defence minister. Until the BJP knocked him and his party down in 2017, he called the shots in Uttar Pradesh politics. Mulayam’s undoing was the selection of his son as his heir apparent. The party lost its verve. Mulayam’s dynastic style saw the party eventually and vertically being divided into two factions — led by his brother and son. In fact, seasons are changing. After reaching a high, several dynasts are now falling by the wayside; the Mulayam dynasty too.
Mulayam’s Samajwadi Party perfected the art of caste-based politics, set against the religion-based offensives of the BJP. In fact, Mulayam and his contemporary, Lalu Prasad Yadav of Bihar, had made huge successes out of caste-configurations in politics. Both were from the Socialist school but they ignored ideology and built their parties on the basis of a casteist, Yadav-Muslim communal alliance in the two Hindi-belt states. The Mandal offensive by VP Singh had created the right conditions for both Mulayam and Lalu to indulge. When they set the tone for ‘Mandal’ politics, the BJP came from behind and stole the wind out of their sails with the Kamandal offensive a la the Ram Mandir initiative based out of Ayodhya — cited as the birth place of Lord Ram. When blame is put on Mulayam and Lalu as also Mayawati for their caste-based politics that won them power, the BJP with its religious push too shares the blame. Put together, politics in India has gone for a toss.
Today’s politics is largely divorced from the politics of the past that was based on ideologies or isms. The degeneration of the Congress party, typified in the wanton greed of its leaders, was one reason for this gross downslide. Footloose regional sharks raised their heads, formed parties and grabbed power. Taking full advantage of the nation’s present plight is the bureaucracy that is increasingly turning corrupt. A new generation of politicians is in command today, there are some positive vibes, but overall there still is no light at the end of the dark tunnel.
