Opinion Dwindling pride

In the last week, Netaji made his voice heard on two notable occasions, drawing unflattering attention to the SP in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh. First, Mulayam Singh Yadav expressed his anguish in Parliament at the death of nine lions in his stronghold of Etawah — a gift from Narendra Modi when he was chief minister of Gujarat, to Uttar Pradesh — and plaintively asked the Centre to help in the matter. Then, he publicly backed his brother Shivpal Yadav and castigated the state government headed by his son Akhilesh.

The Samajwadi Party supremo’s dream — one he has had since 2005 — of a lion safari in Etawah looked like it would finally come true when lions from Gujarat were transported to UP in 2014. Since then, though, four of those lions have died and another five cubs were either stillborn or died in infancy. The lack of success the state government has had in handling its “new pride” has become a source of embarrassment to the Akhilesh Yadav government, and evidently, they can’t figure out who to blame. While Mulayam has asked the Centre for help, Akhilesh has sacked UP’s Principal Forest Conservator (Wildlife). Meanwhile, the feud between Akhilesh and his uncle Shivpal — part of the long-playing cantankerous family drama in UP’s political corridors under SP rule — seems to be tearing the party apart at the seams. By backing his brother against his son’s government now, Mulayam is sending mixed signals to party workers and voters as elections draw near.

Advertisement

With political rivals already gearing for elections, one would expect the party that governs UP to be more surefooted, more focused. Instead, on lions and other things, they seem only to be pointing fingers, without and within.