Taken aback by the conferring of Padma Vibhushan, India’s second highest civilian honour, posthumously on its founder Mulayam Singh Yadav, Samajwadi Party termed it as a “shrewd” move to reach out to the Yadav community, considered the core vote bank of the main opposition party in Uttar Pradesh.
Soon after the announcement of Padma Vibhushan award for late Mulayam Singh Yadav, senior SP leaders repeated an old demand that ‘Netaji’ (Mulayam), who died on October 10, 2022, should have been conferred the Bharat Ratna, the country’s highest civilian honour, instead.
The SP also maintained that Padma Vibhushan award for Mulayam Singh Yadav was a ploy to “silence Bharat Ratna demand”.
While the announcement of Padma Vibhushan for late Mulayam Singh Yadav has set the political rumour mills buzzing about the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s outreach to the Yadav community, SP leaders accepted in private that the move was “shrewd politics” to “silence all voices of demands for Bharat Ratna” for ‘Netaji’ who was the “face of anti-communal” politics in Uttar Pradesh, a sharp contrast to the BJP whose resurgence in the state was marked with the Ram Janmabhoomi movement and the Rath Yatra in 1990.
Hours after the announcement was made, Mainpuri MP and SP national president Akhilesh Yadav’s wife Dimple Yadav, and his uncle Shivpal Singh Yadav repeated the demand for Bharat Ratna for ‘Netaji’. Dimple and Akhilesh were in Saifai for Republic Day celebrations and flag hoisting ceremony.
“‘Netaji’ will be conferred the Padma Vibhushan (by the government) but I think he should have got Bharat Ratna. And this honour should have come much earlier. It is our demand that Netaji be conferred the Bharat Ratna,” Dimple said on Thursday. Shivpal Yadav said “Netaji had always raised the voice of farmers and the poor which is why the demand of all workers and supporters should be fulfilled”.
Samajwadi Party leaders admitted that the announcement was “not expected”. They, however, said that the move did not come as a surprise as demand for Bharat Ratna for Netaji was raised even before his death and several party leaders had vociferously raised the demand after his death.
After Mulayam’s death, several SP leaders had raised this demand. SP leader IP Singh had written a letter to the President of India after the death of Mulayam Singh Yadav, demanding the country’s highest honour for ‘Netaji’. He had also written to Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath that the Agra-Lucknow Expressway be named “Dhartiputra Mulayam Singh Yadav Expressway”. Sambhal MLA Iqbal Mehmood had made a similar demand too. SP spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said that “the BJP has an agenda” and that “there was no talk of any such honour” for ‘Netaji’.
However, insiders said that the move had not come as a surprise.
“This is a shrewd move by the BJP. They want to ensure that the voices for Bharat Ratna for ‘Netaji’ were silenced and also continue their outreach to the Yadavs who are the core voters of the SP,” a former SP MLA from the Yadav community said.
The SP leaders pointed out how the senior leadership of the BJP, including the chief minister and both the deputy chief ministers, had reached Saifai to pay homage to ‘Netaji’ after his death while Union Home Minister Amit Shah had reached Medanta hospital where Yadav remained admitted for days before his death.
From UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to Union Jal Shakti Minister Swatantra Dev Singh, and BJP state president Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary, several party leaders, including Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, had visited Saifai then. “It was all politics… There was no emotion but only politics,” a senior SP leader said.
