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She is considered to be the most powerful person in the Akhilesh Singh Yadav government, is Mulayam Singh Yadav’s representative on the ‘pancham tal’ in Lucknow and Akhilesh Yadav hates her guts.
Meet Anita Singh.
On paper, she is the principal secretary to chief minister, a post she also held during Mulayam Singh’s government from 2003 to 2007. In political circles, she is known as one of the five ghost chief ministers Akhilesh Yadav has had to contend with since 2012. Along with Shivpal Singh Yadav, Ram Gopal, Azam Khan and Mulayam Singh Yadav.
But who is she? And what role does she play in the succession drama playing out in the Samajwadi Party?
Bureaucrat Se... De Facto Chief Minister Tak
A 1990 batch IAS officer, Anita Singh was appointed the Principal Secretary to Akhilesh Yadav in 2012. Singh is a Mulayam-loyalist and the move signalled Mulayam's interference in his son's government; a way for the old guard to control power through the backdoor.
Akhilesh could sense that Anita Singh would potentially undermine the Chief Minister's authority and was against her appointment. His fears were not unfounded. Speaking to The Quint, senior journalist Sharad Pradhan said,
With Mulayam’s approval, Anita Singh goes through everything in the government. She is more powerful than the Chief Minister. In fact, I remember personally meeting Akhilesh Yadav and asking him why he hasn’t taken action against a bureaucrat who is undermining the authority of the CM. He professed his helplessness and said I can’t. I can’t go against my father.
A Fierce Mulayam Loyalist and a Political Force in Lucknow
Despite being an essential part of the coterie around Mulayam Singh Yadav, there is very little that is known about Anita Singh. She is not on social media and is famously media shy. A senior political commentator revealed that once a journalist had managed to click some pictures of Anita Singh. Enraged, Mulayam demanded that the journalist delete her pictures and personally ensured that the photos never got published.
Anita Singh is married to the former Inspector General of Lucknow, Subhash Chandra. In 2012, Singh and her husband were featured in a list of names who were allotted plots in Lucknow’s Gomti Nagar. The Mayawati government had alleged that there were irregularities in the plot allotments. These allotments were made by the Lucknow Development Authority when Mulayam Singh Yadav was the chief minister in 2005.
Politically, Singh forms a part of inner coterie around Mulayam Singh and was instrumental in convincing Netaji to bring back Amar Singh in Samajwadi Party.
In fact from 2012 to 2016, Singh wielded considerable influence in the government, often superseding Akhilesh Yadav’s decisions. In her eyes, he was politically inexperienced and a novice.
However, there is no love lost between Akhilesh and Anita Singh. There is reported to be no communication between the two and Akhilesh resents her influence within the government and over Mulayam Singh Yadav. A senior journalist said,
They don’t see eye to eye on anything. There’s an acute ego clash between the two.
Catalyst in the 'Pari-War' or a Fringe Player in the SP Crisis?
On 23 October, Akhilesh Yadav passed a bizarre order. He ordered his principal secretary, Anita Singh, DGP Javeed Ahmad and chief secretary not to take orders from anyone else but him. However senior they might be, he added.
For a sitting chief minister to ask his officials for obedience is unusual enough, but the order was the beginning of the battle between uncle Shivpal and his protege-nephew. As a part of the Mulayam-Shivpal lobby and a close confidant of Netaji, Anita Singh is influential; but political commentators believe that she is a fringe player in the pari-war.
However, the events which led up to the run to the crisis tell a different story. Deepak Singhal, considered to be close to Amar Singh, was appointed chief secretary on the behest of Anita Singh and Shivpal Singh Yadav.
Furthermore, Anita Singh was also influential in convincing Mulayam Singh Yadav to remove Akhilesh as Samajwadi Party chief. The move set off a domino of revenge strategies with Akhilesh hitting back by divesting Shivpal of key portfolios of public works, revenue and irrigation.
When asked about Anita Singh, political commentators and journalists say that “she can do anything”. Singh has been an influential bureaucrat for a decade now, but what does the future hold for her?
Speaking to The Quint, senior journalist Vivek Avasthi revealed that Anita Singh has fallen out with Mulayam Singh Yadav. Not only does this imply that her political influence has been cut down in the current dispensation but also indicates her negligible role in the crisis in Samajwadi Party.
Whichever way the crisis in Samajwadi Party goes, Brand Akhilesh is only going to emerge much stronger. Akhilesh Yadav is young, well-educated and perceived to be pro-development. Will Anita Singh shift her loyalties from father to son? Or given the acrimonious relationship between the two, is it an impossible proposition?