2014: The Election That Changed India by Rajdeep Sardesai

Author:Rajdeep Sardesai [Sardesai, Rajdeep]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, mobi
ISBN: 9788184750102
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2014-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

The 2012 UP assembly elections was a ‘wave’ election—the Samajwadi Party was swept to power by an overwhelming majority. The star turn was that of Akhilesh Yadav who travelled the length and breadth of the state, often on a cycle. Though he bore an uncanny resemblance to father Mulayam, he promised a new face for the SP. He even denied a ticket to D.P. Yadav, the powerful politician with a long criminal record.

While travelling with Akhilesh on the campaign trail, I must confess to being impressed with his desire to change his party’s image. ‘Aap dekh lena, hum UP kee tasveer badal denge’ (Just you wait and see, we will change the face of UP). Young, fresh-faced, foreign educated and, importantly, with an ear to the ground, he appeared to have all the qualifications to become a symbol of hope and change.

I should have known better. At thirty-eight, Akhilesh was sworn in as UP’s youngest chief minister. But the party he headed was much older. The SP had emerged from the womb of the original Socialist Party. On the wall at the residence of Mulayam Singh in Lucknow, there are portraits of all the great socialist leaders from Ram Manohar Lohia to George Fernandes to Madhu Limaye. Even those who disagreed with their political views could not but admire the simplicity in the lifestyles of these netas. I remember pointing out to Akhilesh that he should also have a picture of Madhu Dandavate, the former railway minister, on the wall. ‘Haan, haan, aap kehte hain to unka bhi photo laga denge!’ (Yes, yes, if you say so, we will put his photo too.)

That was the problem with the modern-day Samajwadi Party—socialist values were reduced to cut-outs and lip service. Dandavate would have preferred to travel by train all his life; today’s SP has got caught up in what can be best described as the hawai jahaaz (airline) culture.

It started, perhaps, with Amar Singh, a businessman-politician who was once Mulayam’s Sancho Panza and who Akhilesh referred to politely as ‘uncle’. Uncle Amar Singh was the de facto king of the Samajwadi Party till he was unceremoniously shown the door in 2010 over what was described as a ‘family fight’.

Amar Singh is a fascinating political character. He is a neta by day, a party animal by night, a safari suit-clad friend of millionaires and film stars in a party of craggy, rural Lohiaites, who scoffs at being called a political ‘fixer’. ‘Boss, you can call me crony capitalist—my party sees me as socialist!’ he once laughingly told me.

Amar Singh could have breakfast with corporate leaders like Anil Ambani, lunch with Mulayam and then dinner with the Bachchans. I once filmed him on the campaign trail in UP. We spent the day in the boondocks of Sonbhadra in eastern UP where he addressed a ‘Thakur Sabha’. I told him I wanted to see the ‘other side’ of him by night. Within a few hours, he had organized a party at home. The guest list included actor Sridevi and husband Boney, industrialists and models.

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