The gamechanger

Power struggles are passé in India’s hyperactive political arena, but the fight that is unfolding in UP is a throwback to ancient and medieval times. Akhilesh Yadav is being positioned as the unsoiled practitioner of a new, clean politics while uncle Shivpal is an unapologetic patron of the old factional politics. Akhilesh will have to establish his credentials as a genuine rebel and a genuine harbinger of new politics. If he is indeed sincere about value-based politics, Akhilesh could become the axis of a new kind of politics in UP that rescues the secular formations from relying solely on caste identity to win electoral contests.

P. Arihanth

Secunderabad