Opinion Badri Narayan writes: Padma Vibhushan to Mulayam Singh Yadav shows a government looking beyond sectarian politics

Padma Award to Netaji will send out a positive message to marginalised social groups that Mulayam Singh cultivated and empowered during his political career. That's why government's gesture should be lauded, whatever its political motives or implications.

By conferring the Padma Vibhushan on Mulayam Singh Yadav, the BJP government has shown that it respects Opposition politicians. (Express file photo by Vishal Srivastava)

Badri Narayan

January 27, 2023 03:42 PM IST First published on: Jan 27, 2023 at 03:42 PM IST

Awards are symbols of respect, regard and honour. They are usually seen as politically neutral. But awards conferred by the state are often subject to multiple interpretations. The Padma awards were announced on January 26. They have been conferred on 106 eminent personalities who have a wide range of expertise.

It is very difficult to find a pattern in the selection. The list includes the eminent litterateur, poet and literary philosopher of Hindi, Vishwanath Tiwari, who is not affiliated with any political ideology. It has several such politically neutral personalities. It also includes politicians like the late Mulayam Singh Yadav and SM Krishna.

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Giving the Padma Vibhushan to Mulayam Singh is a significant inclusive gesture by the Narendra Modi government. Popularly called Netaji and Dhartiputra, Yadav was a three-time chief minister of Uttar Pradesh. He also served as the Union minister of defence in the Deve Gowda and I K Gujral cabinets.

In a democracy, almost every act of the state is perceived as political. That’s why the decision to award the Padma Vibhushan to the late Mulayam Singh Yadav has evoked much discussion. His inclusion in the Padma list seems to have surprised many. Mulayam Singh was an eminent socialist leader who founded the Samajwadi Party which is the main opposition to the BJP in Uttar Pradesh today. As the UP chief minister in 1990, he ordered the firing on kar sevaks in Ayodhya during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement. Several Hindutva politicians referred to him as Maulana Mulayam.

But Mulayam Singh also gave a voice to peasants, workers, OBC communities and many subaltern groups. With his roots in anti-Congress politics, Netaji had many admirers in other non-Congress political parties, including the BJP. It’s well known that he was not so close to Congress and the Gandhi family, unlike Lalu Prasad.

By conferring the Padma Vibhushan on Mulayam Singh, the BJP government has shown that it respects Opposition politicians. In doing so, the government has shown a healthy inclination to look beyond “sectarian party politics”. This also indicates the evolution of the BJP as a party – it is trying to include the voices of people from several social groups, at times transcending its traditional boundaries. Recently, at the National Executive Committee Meeting of the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to party cadres to deepen their outreach to Muslims, especially the Pasmandas. He also asked party workers to reach out to marginal groups.

On several occasions, PM Modi has expressed his admiration for Ram Manohar Lohia. In fact, some of the BJP’s political discourse of anti-Congressism derives from Lohia’s writings. Welfarism is one of the defining features of the Modi government.

Such respect for Opposition politicians could pay the BJP dividends in electoral politics. The Padma Award to Netaji will send out a positive message to the marginalised social groups that Mulayam Singh cultivated during his political career. That’s why the government’s gesture should be lauded, whatever its political implications.

The writer is professor, Govind Ballabh Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad