November 22, 1939. This pre-Independence date’s significance may be unknown to many in India. But the name associated with it is always significant in the chapters of political history of the country. For, it is the birthday of a towering socialist who founded a party that ran its rule in the biggest state of the country with authority and prosperity on a number of occasions.
Meet Mulayam Singh Yadav the founder of the Samajwadi Party who turned 81 on Monday. From being a three-time Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh to Defence Minister of the country, he wore all the hats which his contemporaries would envy. If these were not enough, Yadav always remained a key character in national politics whenever the need for coalition politics arose for government formation at the Centre. He is someone who knows the art of being close to a party in power rising from regional politics.
Born at Saifai in Etawah of UP, Yadav grew up in a poor farming family and dreamt to be a wrestler. Though he did his Master’s, Yadav actually entered politics at the young age of 15 when most of his contemporaries were busy with their studies.
Yadav’s political career took a new turn after the Babri Masjid demolition in December 1992 and a violent riot. He stood by the Muslim community and got their support in return in the ballots. What followed next was the steep rise of Yadav in national politics.
He established the Samajwadi Party in 1992 in Lucknow with a socialist ideology, aimed at “creating a socialist society, which works on the principle of equality,” and sought to mobilize UP’s minority population and members of lower castes into a political force. The SP thus became one of the largest regional parties in India—forming governments in UP in 1993, 2003, and 2012.
Yadav, who led the party, however, allowed his son, Akhilesh Yadav, to become the UP CM too while getting re-elected in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Meanwhile, he also ensured the entry of Dharmendra Yadav into politics that saw him as MP from Badaun twice. He is an important leader in SP at present.
Akhilesh, who is now all in all of SP, looks like a challenger to the BJP in the upcoming Assembly election in UP. Most of the media surveys put him and his organisation in a prospective position among the opposition parties against the BJP.
The race has already become so close that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had to announce that the three controversial farm laws, over which a strong protest has been underway in the Delhi-UP border, would be withdrawn in the coming winter session of Parliament. This will only brighten the chances of Akhilesh since he has been opposing the farm laws because of his roots to his family background of farming.
When Akhilesh was UP CM, he pioneered a multisectoral revolution in UP, which put the state ahead of others. It includes Agra-Lucknow Expressway, Lucknow Metro, development in the power sector, modernisation of the police force, 1090 women power line, Kamdhenu Yojana, Kisan Avam Sarvhit Bima Yojana, Kisan Bazaars, Lohiya Awas Yojana, Samajwadi Swasthya Seva and Shravan Yatra among others. As the CM, Akhilesh remained open, accessible and democratic, compared to Mayawati, who was inaccessible even to her party leaders, senior bureaucrats and industrialists.
He started laptop distribution as per promise. It covered good devices from HP that benefited 15 lakh students each year. This was also symbolically a big change for the SP which earlier opposed computers and English in Mulayam’s period. In a bid to assist the younger generation, the Akhilesh Yadav government launched its flagship scheme, the unemployment allowance for youth.
The beneficiaries were given cheques of Rs 1,000 each by the state government. The scheme, which assures a monthly allowance of Rs 1,000 to unemployed youth, was one of the Samajwadi Party’s main poll promises during elections this year. There are 1.59 lakh Shiksha Mitras in UP. When Akhilesh was the CM, their salaries were hiked from Rs 3,500 to Rs 10,000 and then to Rs 35,000 per month. The amount was however reduced to Rs 10,000 per month when Yogi Adityanath succeeded Akhilesh Yadav as the CM.
In order to claim the allowance, the beneficiary should be aged around 25 to 40 years. More so, the monthly income of the family should be less than Rs 36,000. Indeed, this was a historic step towards empowerment of the youth and it was a proud moment for Akhilesh Yadav to implement it in less than six months of the formation of the SP government.
Rais Ahmad is Chairman, Rassaz Educational Medical Charitable Trust, Badaun (UP). Email: raisahmadoffice@gmail.com