'Netaji' wrestled heartland's upper caste hegemony

If only powerful oratory could win elections, Mulayam Singh Yadav would have lost all in his political career spanning almost six decades.

That he lost just one since entering the Uttar Pradesh assembly for the first time in 1967 shows that there is more to leadership than mere wordplay or a pregnant pause. Short and stout, with a heavy lisp, Mulayam Singh Yadav's speeches were anything but inspiring. In fact, at times, he was incomprehensible.

Also Read: Mulayam Singh Yadav: In success or failure, always 'Netaji' to his supporters

But like so many of his ilk, from EMS Namboodiripad to GK Moopanar, the ubiquitous 'Netaji' of Indian politics earned his stripes through sheer tenacity and the guile of a battle-hardened leader.

A pehelwan (wrestler) practising on a freshly dug akhara in Etawah once told this author that "Netaji ko charkha daanv pasand hai" (Charkha or the wheel is Netaji's favourite move). He then turned around to use it on one of his protégés - swooping up and pinning down his opponent in one effortless motion.

Mulayam Singh Yadav practised the charkha daanv with elan - both in wrestling and politics.

BJP veteran Lal Krishna Advani reminisces in his autobiography that George Fernandes, the veteran socialist leader, turned up at his house one day with Mulayam Singh after the defeat of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government on the floor of the Lok Sabha in 1999. With Congress trying to cobble together an alternative government, Mulayam sought assurance from the BJP to get the house dissolved in lieu of scuttling Sonia Gandhi's maiden bid for power.

At the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan the next day, the Samajwadi Party leader raked up the Congress president's foreign origin issue to announce his party's refusal to extend support.

A section of the Delhi media called him an opportunist and branded him as someone who was utterly detached from ideological moorings.

Also Read: How rivalry among Yadavs cost Mulayam Singh Yadav the PM post

That would be a very myopic view of how politics operates and evolves. Politics is for attaining power, and what one sees as opportunism could be deemed pragmatism by many others.

In India's feudalistic capitalism, Mulayam Singh Yadav symbolised the transition and percolation of power from the upper to intermediary caste groups in heartland politics. Leaders like him and the parties they represented had to be nimble on their feet to survive and fight another day.

His Samajwadi Party, formed after the rupture of the Janata Dal, presents the definitive case study on how in post-Independence India, non-upper caste land-owning communities formed social coalitions and negotiated their claims in the power pie.

For instance, Mulayam Singh's bitter rivalry with the Congress rested on firm political understanding and ground realities. The Congress party was his adversary, and the BJP was an ideological opponent. He shared political space with the Congress, while there was no overlap between his and BJP's catchment area.

Mulayam Singh Yadav's political standing in India's most populous state depended on his ability to stitch a backward-Muslim coalition, which he had assiduously built by weaning away Muslims from the Congress' influence.

The Samajwadi Party's 2009 pre-poll alliance with Kalyan Singh drove Muslims away in hoards, giving Congress another chance at government under Manmohan Singh.

In the subsequent year, Mulayam Singh worked overtime to make amends. He would send in emissaries to Dar-ul-Uloom, Deoband, seeking an audience. Finally, when he got one, he made the best use of it. The next day, newspapers, especially the Urdu press, carried pictures of Mulayam Singh being 'blessed' by the Deoband seniors.

In 2012, Samajwadi Party bounced back to its biggest victory in UP elections, getting a clear majority for the first time since its formation at Lucknow's Begum Hazrat Mahal Park in 1991.

Mulayam Singh was both practical and prescient in his politics, within and outside his party.

Also Read: Mulayam Singh Yadav: A timeline of his life and career

At the SP legislature party meeting, despite suggestions from a section including brother Shivpal Yadav, for a fourth coronation to equal the record of UP CMs in the past, C B Gupta, N D Tiwari and Mayawati, Mulayam Singh got his son Akhilesh elevated to the top post.

Three years later, Akhilesh Yadav, as UP chief minister, could quell the rebellion from his uncle from a position of power.

In the protracted game of one-upmanship that spilled out onto the streets, Mulayam Singh often rebuked his chief minister son while keeping brother Shivpal close at hand. In the process, the pehalwan from Etawah cemented Akhilesh's position as the SP chief while ensuring that uncle Shivpal could not inflict irredeemable damage to the party.

The Mandir-Mandal Manthan post-1989 engendered the first real redistribution of the power matrix in north India that went beyond the conventional political emancipation programmes like land redistribution and symbolic co-option of leadership from the weaker sections.

That leaders like Mulayam Singh, Kanshi Ram, Lalu Yadav, Nitish Kumar, Ram Vilas Paswan, and Shibu Soren could wrest real power makes their contribution, approach and achievements qualitatively different from their predecessors like JP, Lohia or even Babu Jagjivan Ram.

Beni Prasad Verma, the chain-smoking former Union minister, loved sharing political anecdotes about his close friend Mulayam Singh Yadav over a cup of tea. In one of the conversations with this reporter, Varma recalled how the SP-BSP alliance for 1993 assembly polls was finalised in an Etawah Lok Sabha bye-poll where Kanshi Ram could 'manage' to win his first election by defeating Mulayam Singh's party candidate.

"BSP se alliance hamari sabse badi bhool thi. It was my biggest mistake," Mulayam Singh told this reporter while campaigning in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.

Ten years later, in 2019, facing a rampaging BJP in UP under Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, Mulayam Singh shared the dais with Mayawati to recreate the 'mile Mulayam-Kanshi Ram' magic of yore.

Unlike cinema, in politics, remakes are seldom successful. But even in old age, Mulayam Singh Yadav was never averse to experiments. To try out something new which might click. He would never give up, even with his back to the wall.

(Sumit Pande is a political commentator)

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.