Mend it like Mulayam

Is the Samajwadi Party SP trying to Mend it like Beckham, as far as the sentiments of Muslims in Uttar Pradesh are concerned? If David Bec...

Is the Samajwadi Party SP trying to Mend it like Beckham, as far as the sentiments of Muslims in Uttar Pradesh are concerned? If David Beckham, the international football star, went for a new haircut to save his image and marriage after the steamy revelations made by his alleged lover, Rebecca Loos, the SP has a tough time explaining its 8216;relationship8217; with the BJP.

The SP-BJP-Muslim triangle in the state is now beginning to unfold like the David Beckham-Rebecca Loos-Posh Spice kiss-and-tell story, with the BJP confessing to an alleged closeness, the SP in hot denial and the Muslim community demanding to be convinced there is no affair at all.

Allegations and rumours of a clandestine affair between the BJP and SP have been doing the rounds ever since Mulayam Yadav, was sworn in as chief minister five months ago. While the SP persistently ignored and denied allegations it was in power because of a tacit alliance with the BJP, the 8216;8216;affair8217; came out in the open two months ago, when an emotional George Fernandes 8216;8216;revealed all8217;8217; to a startled media.

Dying to tell his story to the world, the NDA Convenor blurted out, 8216;8216;Yadav is a personal and political friend,8217;8217; he said warmly, 8216;8216;and I will always be thankful to him for stopping Congress President Sonia Gandhi from coming to power in 1999,8217;8217; he gushed. Fernandes then dropped a bombshell, when he added, 8216;8216;The SP could even extend issue-based support to the NDA after the polls.8217;8217; He kept saying it8212;he repeated it even this week.

The revelation had all the makings of a scandal, and the SP was forced to react. While Yadav maintained a studied silence, the SP8217;s Amar Singh lashed out saying 8216;8216;Fernandes was daydreaming and living in a fool8217;s paradise if he believed Mulayam was a political ally.8217;8217; He also said Fernandes had 8216;8216;no business talking about the internal affairs of another political party8217;8217; and he had done so 8216;8216;only to create a wedge between the SP and the Muslims in the state.8217;8217;

That the BJP had successfully sowed the seed of suspicion in the relationship was apparent from the community8217;s growing resentment and suspicion for the SP and its leaders. There was a clamour from its leaders seeking a clarification on the so-called 8216;8216;affair,8217;8217; to issue statements of denial and, to come clean about the SP8217;s relationship with the BJP. And despite the SP8217;s later refusal to forge a 8216;secular front8217; to defeat the BJP, the community retreated from demanding a 8216;8216;divorce.8217;8217;

Just when it seemed the allegations of an 8216;8216;affair8217;8217; was going to die down, came the recent statement by the Prime Minister himself. As if to confirm the SP8217;s status as a BJP conquest, Vajpayee revealed to a television channel, 8216;8216;The SP8217;s ideology is close to the BJP8217;s.8217;8217; When the PM was asked to explain this surprise statement, he said, 8216;8216;We will in the event of the NDA coming to power again stress on nationalism and democracy, and it will naturally be easier to work with those parties which have the same commitment towards these issues,8217;8217; he said plainly.

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To Mulayam and Amar Singh8217;s horror, the ghosts of the 8216;past8217; came to haunt them again. Yadav dismissed the PM8217;s outburst saying let the BJP first drop the three contentious issues of Ayodhya-Mathura-Kashi and Uniform Civil Code 8216;8216;before any parallels can be drawn between the SP and BJP.8217;8217;

And in a desperate bid to bring its house in order, Singh had to publicly declare the party8217;s loyalty and fidelity to the community when he said the SP would not align with the NDA-BJP 8216;8216;even if Mulayam was offered the prime ministership.8217;8217; The last is yet to be heard on the saga.