SP meets VP: The statue unveiling of ex-PM V P Singh in TN may just be the start

In the National Front government that Singh headed, dethroning the Congress in 1989, many of these leaders found a place, including Mulayam, Sharad Yadav, Devi Lal, and Ajit Singh.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav with family members of former prime minister V.P. Singh during the unveiling ceremony of the latter’s statue at the Presidency College, in Chennai, Monday, Nov. 27, 2023. (PTI Photo)

Sources said that SP chief Akhilesh Yadav’s presence at the unveiling of Singh’s statue in Chennai, by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK chief M K Stalin, was a big step in this strategy. Some SP leaders claimed Akhilesh reached out to the DMK to be present at the Chennai event.

Even as the SP hopes to gain from its association with V P Singh, it is also aware that the history of Mandal report implementation does not shine a favourable light on parties like the BJP and Congress, which had opposed the same.

The SP has a clear advantage as none of the other parties in the same political space as it, have tried to own V P Singh’s image as a “pichhdon ka maseeha (the torchbearer of the backwards)” – apart from an anti-corruption crusader. Plus, Singh also belonged to UP.

The ex-PM died in 2008, after more than a decade of virtual oblivion once he had abandoned active politics.

The UP context

For some time now, the BJP has been consolidating its hold on the estimated 52% OBC vote bank in UP, which helped it win the last two Assembly elections in the state comfortably and sweep the lion’s share of Lok Sabha seats in 2014 and 2019. OBCs have been accommodated in senior positions in the state and at the Centre by the BJP, and the party has also run specific campaigns targeting them.

One year after coming into power for the first time, CM Yogi Adityanath had set up a Social Justice Committee to study the status of the 27% OBC reservation in educational institutes and government jobs, in terms of the share of the backwards, more backwards and most backwards in the quota.

However, like other governments did with similar reports, the Adityanath ministry is yet to table it, or implement its recommendations.

Sources said the state government wants to take the Centre in the loop on what changes to implement, when and for whom, as it eyes benefits from the same in the coming elections.

The BJP has meanwhile been building up its OBC profile via tie-ups, such as with Om Prakash Rajbhar’s Suheldeo Bharatiya Samaj Party, which has influence over sub-castes such as Rajbhar and Noniya in at least 10 districts in eastern UP; as well as older alliances such as with the NISHAD Party and Apna Dal, with presence among the Nishads, Mallahs, Kewats and Kurmis, in more than 20 districts.

Though the Congress has minimal presence in UP, the new state executive headed by Ajay Rai has launched campaigns eyeing OBCs, focusing especially on western UP, where SP ally RLD is seen as getting close to the grand old party.

What SP gains

It was significant that at the statue unveiling by Stalin, who has been trying to build a national profile of own, the only non-DMK leader present was SP chief Akhilesh Yadav, while Singh’s sons Ajeya Singh and Abhai Singh attended as “special invitees”. Thus descendants of three social justice icons – M Karunanidhi, Mulayam, and V P Singh – shared a common platform.

Sources said the SP is trying to convince Singh’s sons, who are not in politics, to join hands actively with it or at least support SP programmes based on Singh in UP.

Among OBCs, the SP already has a solid base among the Yadavs, who are 19% of the total 52% population in UP.