SP and Akhilesh: The ego of an underachiever and the complete demolition of a 29-year-old party

Akhilesh Yadav, the son of the Samajwadi Party patriarch who was being promoted as the future of Indian politics by the left-liberal establishment in 2012, has emerged as the biggest failure within a decade.

Just like Rajiv Gandhi destroyed the biggest ever mandate of 1984 within 5 years, Akhilesh Yadav not only destroyed the biggest ever mandate and faced a humiliating loss after becoming the youngest ever CM of the largest state in the country but also split the family into many factions and irked his father.

He has emerged as a big failure since 2012 when he got the CM seat on the platter, thanks to the legacy of his father, Mulayam Singh Yadav. In the last decade, he not only destroyed the legacy of ‘Netaji’ and plunged the three-decades-old party, but failed in governance and leadership.

Many stalwarts have left the party in the last few years including Uncle Shivpal Yadav – known for his excellent connection with karyakartas on the ground – who has formed a new party and Naresh Agrawal, who played a crucial role in organizing party funds.

Given the ego and lack of charisma in Akhilesh Yadav, these leaders are not ready to come with the party even before the elections despite repeated requests. Naresh Agrawal, former Rajya Sabha leader MP who joined SP, replying to question whether he will go back to SP, said that ‘he cannot face dishonour again and he will remain with BJP.’ He also said that his leader was Mulayam Singh Yadav, not Akhilesh Yadav.

Shivpal Yadav, who has formed a Progressive Samajwadi party, said that he is ready to ally with SP but his leaders should be respected in the new alliance. However, Akhilesh Yadav is not ready for the alliance and he said that they have left the Jaswantnagar seat but apart from that, he is not very optimistic about the alliance.

The arrogance, ego, and lack of leadership skills in Akhilesh Yadav are destroying the three-decades-old party. The results of the recent District Council President elections show that under the leadership of Akhilesh Yadav, the party is set to face another humiliating loss in the 2022 assembly elections.

BJP has registered a massive victory in the Uttar Pradesh Zila Parishad Polls – winning 67 of the 75 seats on which the election was held. The party won 22 seats unopposed and on the rest of the seats, SP emerged as its main contestant because BSP had decided to not participate in these elections.

Instead of reflecting on the reasons behind the loss, Akhilesh Yadav blamed the BJP for using force to win the elections, just like Congress leaders blame EVM after every election loss. If Akhilesh Yadav remains complacent like this and creates flimsy reasons for his failures, he would make Samajwadi Party history within the next few years.

In 2017 Assembly polls, BJP managed to receive a gigantic mandate by securing a 41.4 percent vote share, which translated to the BJP winning 325 seats in a 403-member state assembly. Nobody had anticipated such a huge wave of Yogi Adityanath in the state and the opposition and detractors were left dumbfounded at the magnitude of the victory.

As reported by TFI, according to an ABP-C Voter survey BJP would storm into power once again. The BJP is projected to win 289 seats in the 403-seat Uttar Pradesh Assembly. Meanwhile, SP is projected to be the second-largest party with 59 seats followed by BSP with 38 seats but not posing any real challenge to the BJP.

BJP can afford to let its guard down and go easy on the election preparations but ‘ruthless’ seems to be the keyword passed along from the party high command. The preparations have begun and despite the sorry situation of the opposition especially the BSP, the BJP does not want to leave any loopholes in its electoral preparedness. There is no doubt that Yogi is storming back to power, the only question is, by what margin?