Opinion Sharad Yadav: Mandal flag-bearer
A JP protege, Yadav touched his political high point in the coalition politics of the 1990s
For most of his political life, Sharad Yadav was an Opposition politician -- he stood against the dominant pole of national politics. 
Sharad Yadav, who died at 75 on Thursday, was a product of the JP movement. Along with Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad, he represented the Mandal upsurge in the 1990s that changed the face of politics in northern India. If Mulayam and Lalu were charismatic organisers, Sharad Yadav was more of a socialist ideologue and strategist, who commanded wide respect but lacked the capacity or resources to win elections on his own. The absence of a home base forced him to hop between parties and coalitions. He was elected to the Lok Sabha seven times, was Rajya Sabha MP for four terms and served as minister in the V P Singh and Vajpayee governments.
Sharad Yadav’s entry into electoral politics was dramatic. In 1974, at the peak of the Navnirman and Bihar movements, a by-election was announced for the Jabalpur Lok Sabha seat. It became a test for the Opposition, which was rallying around Jayaprakash Narayan in its battle against then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. JP chose a young graduate from the local engineering college as the joint Opposition candidate. Sharad Yadav, 27 years old, caused an upset by defeating the Congress candidate. The Jabalpur bypoll was a pointer that the tide was turning against Mrs Gandhi. In the Emergency that followed after the Allahabad High Court ruled against her election, Sharad Yadav, now a first-term MP, was jailed with scores of other Opposition politicians. When the Janata experiment failed and the party split, he joined Charan Singh and later, the Janata Dal, which soon came to head the National Front government in 1989. Mandal catapulted Sharad Yadav to the JD’s national leadership. His election as JD president in 1996 led to a split in the party with Lalu Prasad forming the Rashtriya Janata Dal. Sharad Yadav soon hitched his wagon to Nitish Kumar. His finest moment in electoral politics followed in 1999, when he defeated Lalu Prasad in Madhepura; and his lowest point was when he opposed the women’s reservation bill in Parliament claiming that it would only benefit privileged upper class women.
For most of his political life, Sharad Yadav was an Opposition politician — he stood against the dominant pole of national politics. If the Lohiaite anti-Congressism defined his politics in the 1970s and ’80s, the last phase saw him ally with the Congress. His political allies and affiliations would change, but he was steadfast in his allegiance to socialist and social justice agendas.
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