‘Akhileshian’ culture swarms Samajwadi Party

“Akhileshians” is the new breed of Samajwadi workers in Uttar Pradesh.

These “Akhileshians”, earlier known as youth leaders and loyalists of Akhilesh Yadav, now identify them with the new sobriquet.

After the recent crisis in the ruling Samajwadi Party, the Akhileshians are blatantly identifying themselves as a new group and it matters little to them whether they remain in the party or not.

Kali Shankar, a young Samajwadi leader, even bought a spot on prime time for himself on a regional channel in which he called upon his “brothers and sisters” to strengthen the hands of the “only leader I know” — Akhilesh Yadav.

Youth leaders, now expelled, who had raised slogans in favour of the chief minister over the weekend after Akhilesh was removed from the state president’s post, insist that they are Akhileshwadis and may or may not be Samajwadis.

Apart from the resignations that have poured in to support Mr Akhilesh Yadav, two Akhileshians, Monu Dubey and Ritesh Patel, even climbed on to a mobile tower to register their protest against removal of the chief minister from the state president’s post, while Haji Zarir Khan threatened to immolate himself.

The young leaders have added the word Akhilesh-ian to their names on the social networking sites.

“We are all followers of Akhilesh Yadav and will remain with him. He has given birth to a new ideology for the youth and he is the leader of tomorrow. We are not concerned with the fate of the Samajwadi Party because the senior leadership is involved in a power play. We are with Akhilesh and will follow him,” said “Akhileshian” Rajvir Yadav.

All the seven expelled leaders, three of them MLCs, have also announced that they will continue to be loyal to the chief minister.

The Akhileshians, on Wednesday, have placed bulk orders for white T-shirts with Mr Yadav’s photograph and a slogan which says “I am Akhileshian” printed on it in bold letters.

“We will be wearing these T-shirts on all political events,” said Pramil Kumar, also an Akhileshian.

This, incidentally, is the first time that a personality cult is being seen in the Samajwadi Party that has, all along, avoided such practices and has relied on its ideological based.

“This cult culture will spell doom for the party that has grown and survived on ideology. It is obvious that the leader concerned (read Akhilesh) is tacitly supporting the move. Supporters of Shivpal had also donned T-shirts with his photograph on the night that he was stripped of his portfolios but he immediately asked them to take it off. Akhilesh should realise that no one is bigger than the party — his Akhileshians should also be made to realize this,” said a veteran SP leader.