For decades, he has been the guiding force in the politics of Uttar Pradesh and would remain so even after his demise. With the death of Mulayam Singh Yadav, the last and the most credible fight of social justice in UP is gone and this will have an impact on the politics of the state.
After the Mandal Commission report was tabled in the late nineties, Mulayam had been the torch- bearer of social justice movement in UP. Behind him, the entire backward community united and this paved the way for him becoming the Chief Minister twice and the Samajwadi Party floated by him always remained a prominent political force in UP. He had challenged the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) card of Kamandal with the Mandal and succeeded.
Soon after the demolition of Babri Masjid, the BJP rode on Ram Mandir movement, and its esteem was high. Amid this, Mulayam forged alliance with Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the 1993 assembly polls. The alliance formed government though it lasted for a short period only. However, this coalition of SP-BSP made two major changes in UP’s politics. First, it consolidated the scheduled castes fully behind BSP and secondly, Mulayam and his party emerged as the sole voice of backward communities in the state.
For nearly two decades the politics of UP remained a game between SP and BSP leaving no space for the mainstream national parties like BJP and Congress. This cycle was broken in 2014 parliament elections when riding on Modi wave BJP made a dent among the backward and scheduled caste votes. The success of BJP and Modi in taking a slice of backwards and scheduled caste votes was further consolidated with Samajwadi Party breaking into two and Mayawati aligning with BJP. Before the assembly polls of 2017, there was coup in Samajwadi Party in which Mulayam’s son Akhilesh Yadav who was Chief Minister then crossed sword with Uncle Shivpal Yadav. Indecisive Mulayam could not do anything to keep the party intact and ultimately he was unceremoniously removed from the post of national president of SP and made a patron only. The SP was routed by BJP in 2017 assembly polls and could get only 47 seats in the 402 member UP assembly.
In 2019 parliament election, SP-BSP forged alliance again but to no avail as the caste base of both the parties had eroded then. Then came the assembly polls of 2022, which also proved disastrous for SP which despite anti -incumbency factor against BJP, could only get 110 seats.
According to a senior leader of Samajwadi Party and a close aide of Mulayam Singh, the party might get more shocks in the days to come. The leader who wishes to remain unnamed said that till Mulayam Singh Yadav was alive, the Yadav community was intact with Samajwadi Party and the Muslims in UP considered it their first choice. However, with Mulayam gone, it would be difficult for Akhilesh Yadav to keep the Yadav and Muslim votes intact. The consolidation of entire backward community is a far-fetched dream without Mulayam in action and disappointed lot of Muslim votes might go for other parties such as Congress in UP, said a senior socialist leader.
