Soap opera viewers were glued to television sets on Monday afternoon. They had switched to cacophonous news networks from their favourite entertainment channels. The Samajwadi Party opera appeared more attractive for the day than usual afternoon repeats of prime time soaps.
“Are you watching Rishton ka Dharmayudh?,” a retired bank female executive called to ask. No, I said hurriedly. I’m ignorant of the world of entertainment soap. She guessed my confusion and let out a hearty laugh.
SP’s political soap opera continues with no break. Factions within the family are hitting out against each other, they are re-defining their strategies for battle of UP. Though not the first family feud, it is quite bitter and ugly.
First Major Political Family Feud
The first major feud was in the Congress’ first family. In March 1982, Indira Gandhi threw out her daughter-in-law, Sanjay Gandhi’s widow and current union minister Maneka Gandhi, from her house. Had there been private television networks then, the bitter saas-bahu (mother-in-law versus daughter-in-law) melodrama with Mrs Gandhi and Maneka as protagonists would have reached living rooms across the country.
Journalist Khushwant Singh wrote in detail about the incident in his autobiography, Truth, Love and a Little Malice. Then Prime Minister’s official residence witnessed the bitter saas-bahu saga with cuss words flying thick and fast between Mrs Gandhi, Maneka Gandhi and her sister Ambika. The entire Delhi press corps including foreign media camping outside the PM’s house watched Maneka leave with son Varun Gandhi, never to return to the Gandhi-Nehru family and to Congress party. Seeking her own piece of the political pie Maneka, along with Varun, finally landed in the BJP.
And the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty that dumped her is gasping for breath more than three decades after the first family revolt.
Coup Against NTR
Many of the contemporary dynastic feuds have been fought in South India as well. Another family drama ensued between popular film star and three-time Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister NT Rama Rao and his son-in-law Chandrababu Naidu, the current chief Minister of bifurcated Andhra Pradesh.
Naidu ousted his father-in-law in a coup nine months after NTR had won the state assembly elections with a two-thirds majority in 1994. The dramatis personae in the political soap were old and ailing NTR, his new wife Lakshmi Parvathi, son-in-law Chandrababu Naidu and his sons. More than two decades later, the family feud still continues.
Family slugfest over control of political power continues in Tamil Nadu. DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi presides over the party at the age of 92, keeping his warring sons MK Stalin and MK Alagiri in check, but for how long is anybody’s guess.
Also Read: NTR in 1995, Mulayam in 2016: How Political Ambitions Fuel a Coup
Ugly Yadav Pari-War
However, the bitterness and the ugliness of the family fight in the Samajwadi Party beat all political family feuds in the country. All family members, including the father, son, brothers, uncles, nephews, and others, have been cast as main characters in the battle being fought for control in Uttar Pradesh.
It’s difficult to point out who the hero or the villain is. The result of the battle will be similar to the Bollywood blockbuster Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar.
At the Lucknow meeting, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle Shivpal Yadav almost came to fisticuffs with Mulayam Singh Yadav standing between them.
Akhilesh identified “outsider” Amar Singh, Mulayam’s close friend who is being described as ‘Shakuni Mama’ of Mahabharata, for his divisive role in the family drama, as a villain in the entire episode.
Akhilesh accuses Shivpal of playing into the hands of Amar Singh. He even said that Amar Singh was behind the story published in media that described Akhilesh as Mughal prince Aurangzeb and Mulayam as emperor Shah Jahan.
Aurangzeb Analogy
A livid Shivpal Yadav, who has been sacked twice from the cabinet by Akhilesh Yadav, accused his nephew chief minister of speaking “lies” in full public view.
Dynasties fall for good though political dynasties thrive in many democracies. At the same time, family-based parties and family rules are antithesis of democracies. That’s a lesson Akhilesh should remember.
Akhilesh hints of upping the ante against those whose interests he perceives are not in favour of the party and family. He doesn’t seem averse to play Aurangzeb against his father and uncle. But is he also prepared to see the disintegration of the Yadav clan?
Many see Akhilesh as a moderniser. But he seems to be lacking the ruthless will of Aurangzeb while dealing with the present and potential roadblocks on the way to launch his development agenda. Aurangzeb had imprisoned Shah Jahan and had his brothers killed to achieve his objectives.
Coming Out of Mulayam’s Shadow
Without weeding out old guards who have become synonymous with “goonda raj” in UP, as Ram Gopal Yadav described it, Akhilesh can’t emerge as a force of modernisation even if he is keen to pursue that aim.
To prove his worth as a leader of development politics, he has to come out of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s shadow, has to show uncles Shivpal and Ram Gopal Yadav’s their place, jettison sundry cousins and members of the extended family. He has to work on an agenda to democratise the Samajwadi Party, to appeal all sections of the state.
He has to act like Mahabharat’s Arjuna and probably “slay” all his own people who built an empire on the basis of money and muscle and now run the party as a family fiefdom.
Akhilesh Yadav can’t carry on the Yadav dynasty as usual and be a moderniser too.
(The writer is a journalist. He can be reached @kashoksingh. This is a personal blog and the views expressed above are the author’s own. The Quint neither endorses nor is responsible for the same.)
Also Read: UP Under Akhilesh Yadav: Is He Really a ‘Vikas’ Mantri?
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