New Delhi : Going against the grain of their divisive DNA, the split prone erstwhile Janata parivar has regrouped into one entity under Netaji — Mulayam Singh Yadav’s leadership. The re-unification moves have been in the air for quite some time, and the seal of finality came after a day-long meeting of the leaders of the six of its constituents at the Yadav chieftain’s official residence.
The six signatories to the merger are the Samajwadi Party, Janata Dal (U), Rashtriya Janata Dal, Indian National Lok Dal, Janata Dal (S) and Samajwadi Janata Party.
“We have merged,” said Sharad Yadav, the JD (U) president, after the meeting and announced that a six-member committee will decide on the name of the new party, its symbol, flag and other details.
The six-member committee will include JD (S) head and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, Prasad, Om Prakash Chautala of INLD, Sharad Yadav, Ram Gopal Yadav of SP and Kamal Morarka of Samajwadi Janata Party.
“It’s a historic decision… We have united and we assure people that this will be a strong bond. We will respect the feelings of people,” said Mulayam who will also be leading the parliamentary party of the new outfit.
The main driving force behind the reunification of the Janata Parivar is the success of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Hindi heartland in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Of the 140 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the BJP captured 102 and reduced these constituents to the status of also-ran in the race.
The SP has five members in the Lok Sabha followed by the RJD with four MPs while JD-U, JD(S) and INLD each have two MPs, giving the grouping a total of 15 members in the lower house of Parliament. In the Rajya Sabha, too, SP leads the pack with 15 members while JD-U has 12 and INLD, JD(S) and RJD one MP each, making their total strength 30 in the upper house.
Mulayam Singh Yadav asserted that a new national party was needed to take on the Modi sarkar which had “failed” in fulfilling any of its big promises made during the elections. “This is an arrogant government. For the first time we have a government at the Centre which does not consult opposition parties. They made all sorts of promises. What happened to them? 24-hour electricity, jobs for unemployed youths… Where are these,” he observed.
In the past the cementing force for these parties has been anti-Congressism and the BJP had been a part of their combine. “Whenever we have come together, we have formed a government in Delhi. We will do it again,” he said, referring to 1975 and 1989 when socialist parties had joined hands to take on the then incumbent Congress. But, this time, the political landscape has altered. The BJP is the main rival, and the Congress reduced to being a marginal player. With three Yadavs — Mulayam, Lalu and Sharad — all set to play stellar roles in the new formation, it is settled that the Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar would be the face of the new party in the forthcoming Bihar elections.
However, the re-unified Janata Parivar has national ambitions, too, and would seek working relationships with like-minded parties like the Trinamool Congress to form a solid block against the Modi government. The internal assessment is that even though the party has been marginalized in the polls, it would be useful to have the Congress as a part of the wider secular umbrella.
It is expected that there would be a show of strength by the new party once the details like name etc are finalised.
