Yadav vs Yadav: The maverick known for his wrestling ‘dav-pech’

Mulayam Singh Yadav
The early Nineties saw him emerging as the undisputed leader of OBCs

78-year-old Mulayam Singh, the maverick wrestler-turned-politician, has been known for using his wrestling dav-pech to forge ahead in politics. The wily politician, who began his career by winning UP Assembly elections in 1967, jostled out veterans to chart his own course.

His road to becoming the UP chief minister thrice and Union defence minister in 1996 is littered with many a stories of intrigues and thwarted careers.

He edged out Ajit Singh to claim the political legacy of Chaudhary Charan Singh, parted ways with V.P. Singh to support the Chandra Shekhar government in 1990 and then split with Chandra Shekhar in 1992 to float his own party.

He also outwitted Rajiv Gandhi’s move to withdraw support from his government by recommending dissolution of the Assembly in 1990. And in 1995, he split with BSP after his men kept Mayawati captive in a state guest house.

The early Nineties saw Mulayam emerging as the undisputed leader of OBCs after the Mandal storm and then the “messiah of Muslim” after he ordered firing on “kar sevaks” during the Ayodhya movement.

From being a rural-oriented politician, Mulayam gradually learnt the skills of national politics, thanks mainly to his association with Amar Singh. The Bachchans and Ambanis were a part of his social circle though he continued to maintain relations with panchayat level leaders in the party too.

He enjoyed a two decade long free run in state politics which partially ended in 2012 when he decided to pass the baton to his son Akhilesh after Samajwadi Party got a comfortable majority on its own. This despite the fact that relations between father and son have been strained ever since the SP patriarch remarried.

Though Akhilesh has never made his disapproval public, those close to him say that he never forgave his father for remarrying, calling it an “injustice to my mother”. Sources claim that Akhilesh does not share a cordial relationship with his stepmother Sadhna Gupta Yadav and his stepbrother Prateek Yadav.

Yet, Mulayam guided, reprimanded and protected Akhilesh when he became chief minister and was even accused of back-seat driving.

The bubble finally burst on the first day of 2017 when Akhilesh Yadav deposed him and became national president of the party founded by his father.

Mulayam was shocked, but his supporters even more so. Never in his worst dreams had Mulayam imaged that just like he had outwitted his contemporaries, his own son would turn the tables on him one day.

But Mulayam, who has been suffering from age-related ailments, remains a wrestler in mind and spirit.

Any other politician would have probably reconciled himself to his fate, but Mulayam is fighting back. With majority of his party workers, leaders, legislators and loyalists already having crossed over to greener pastures (Akhilesh), Mulayam is holding on to his younger brother Shivpal and friend Amar Singh.

“He may be named Mulayam but he is tough inside and this battle will prove it”, says one of his aides.