The Samajwadi Party (SP) formed the government in the state by winning the 2012 UP elections with an absolute majority. Akhilesh Yadav became Chief Minister and at that time the national president of the party was Mulayam Singh Yadav. There are two reasons to talk about Mulayam today. One is that today is the birth anniversary of Mulayam Singh Yadav and the second is that the kind of attitude that Akhilesh Yadav has shown in the by-elections held in nine UP Assembly seats has started the discussion on whether he is returning to the old SP routine. ?
SP chief Akhilesh Yadav held a press conference on November 20, the day of polling for nine seats in UP. Akhilesh not only targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) but also warned the police and administration officials that they would lose their name, respect, PF and pension. The way Akhilesh Yadav appeared aggressively, he gave five signs.
image of the workers’ party
The image of the SP has been that of a party that supports its workers in any type of situation. Many times, due to this image, the SP faced criticism in political circles and the opposition parties also created the image of a party of criminals. Akhilesh, being the CM of UP, had talked about a new SP in an attempt to change the image of SP.
In an attempt to clean up Akhilesh’s image, the new SP continued to distance itself from the workers and the result was the split of the party into two factions ahead of the 2017 assembly elections, the removal of Mulayam from the post of national president and the failure in the electoral test. . The SP now seems to be returning to the trend of being a party that stands by its workers under any circumstances. Be it the SP’s stance on the Anujesh Yadav encounter or the Deoria incident or now Akhilesh’s attitude on the allegations of rigging in the Meerapur, Kundarki and Sisamau by-elections, this is the indication.
fight on the ground
During the time of Mulayam Singh Yadav and Shivpal Yadav, that is, during the erstwhile SP, the party with the cycle symbol had the image of a party fighting on the ground. In 2012, when the SP came to power with an absolute majority, the party leaders and workers forgot the struggle on the ground. No party holds protests while in power, but SP leaders and workers have failed to counter the opposition narrative on many issues, including the Gayatri Prajapati case. After losing the election battle in 2017, although Akhilesh became active before the 2019 general elections, he was seen focusing more on fighting the narrative and establishing the mathematics of alliances than fighting on the ground.
After the 2019 general elections, the SP’s focus seemed to be shifting towards this and after encouraging results first in the 2022 Assembly and then in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, now the party seems to be returning to the old formula . On the day of polling, Akhilesh Yadav said that our people are collecting videos and photographs of what the police administration is doing. Now that SP talks about honoring Tohida, the woman who stood in front of a police officer brandishing a gun in Meerapur assembly constituency, it also indicates that Akhilesh Yadav is returning to the Mulayam-era formula of fighting on the terrain.
Use of Shivpal in the organization.
When Akhilesh Yadav was the Chief Minister of UP, Mulayam Singh Yadav had handed over the command of the organization in the state to Shivpal Yadav. Making Shivpal state president was also seen as an attempt to balance power between son and brother, but one factor is that Mulayam Singh Yadav knew where he could make best use of his brother’s skills.
Also read: ‘Pension, PF, respect, all will be lost…’ Akhilesh warned officials about ‘irregularities’ in the voting.
Shivpal is among the leaders who, after its inception, worked hard with Mulayam to build the SP organization and strengthen it. Shivpal’s image has been that of a skillful organizer from the beginning. Akhilesh also started using Shivpal in the organization. Before the Lok Sabha elections, Shivpal was made in-charge of the by-election from Ghosi’s assembly seat, where he was successful. Now, in the nine-seat by-election, the party had put him in charge of Katehri.
Dhartiputra image of Mulayam
Mulayam Singh Yadav’s image has been that of a son of the soil. While protesting against untouchability, Mulayam invited people from the Dalit community to his brother’s wedding, hugged everyone and served food in front of him. After the rise of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in UP’s Dalit politics and the guesthouse scandal, the SP’s hold on this vote bank began to weaken. Now, under the banner of PDA, Akhilesh is trying to expand SP’s vote base beyond Yadav Muslims to other backward castes and Dalits, and the opposition party UP also did well with this formula in the Lok Sabha elections. .
Also read: ‘Fresh elections should be held in Kundarki, Meerapur and Sisamau’, SP demands rigging allegations
Strategy to prepare the playing field for 2027
The UP by-election was also being considered a semi-final ahead of the 2027 election battle. The SP, which proved better than the BJP in terms of seats in the Lok Sabha elections, wants to maintain the equations and momentum of the elections general elections until the 2027 elections. Be it the SP’s decision to field backward class, Dalit and minority candidates in the nine-seat by-elections or Akhilesh Yadav’s press conference on complaints about the voting, all this is also linked to the SP’s Mission 2027.
By taking the names of the officers and warning them about losing their respect, job, PF pension, Akhilesh in a way gave a message to the SP supporters that if the party comes to power, those officers will be on the list of goals than to be accused of harassing fans.
