Even after poll loss, SP stuck in `Yadav' warp, lament grand alliance advocates
NEW DELHI: The proponents of `grand alliance' are dismayed that Samajwadi Party has not learnt the “right lessons“ from its defeat in Uttar Pradesh elections, lamenting that its post-poll decisions do not reflect an urgency to correct the flaws for the 2019 Lok Sabha contest.
SP's decision to pick a Yadav veteran as leader of opposition in the state assembly has raised concerns that the community may end up leading the party in all key legislatures. While Ram Govind Choudhary has been named for assembly , Mulayam Singh Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav lead the party in the two Houses of the Parliament. Akhilesh has been ap pointed the leader of SP's joint legislature party.
The continued Yadav dominance in SP is seen as going against the need for the party to broaden its catchment area among OBCs, a lesson drawn from BJP's success in weaning away other backward communities through an antiYadav polarisation.
Advocates of `grand alliance' argue that for 2019, SP will have to recover its old base where “most backwards“ and non-Yadav strong OBCs like Kurmis have to be won back in good numbers. “It could have started with the symbolism of party face in assembly ,“ a strong advocate of the 'grand alliance' said.
Leaders caution that SP and BSP will have to avoid playing into the saffron hands, which means eschewing “mu scular secularism“ and YadavJatav politics -the three-pronged BJP attack which dented the regional outfits in assembly contest. A political push has started in earnest to bring SP , BSP and Congress together for Lok Sabha polls. While political animosity and overlapping votebanks made alliance between Mayawati and Mulayam impossible, it is seen as a reality post-assembly polls amid evidence of BJP's tightening grip over the 80-seat state.
However, it is argued that grand alliance will be beneficial only if supplemented by correctives learnt from the assembly debacle.
The Samajwadi umbrella used to comprise strong OBCs and `most backwards' both in the post-Mandal heat, but the pan-backward unity started fraying with the advent of BSP which appealed to the “most backwards“ alongside Dalits.This equation appears to have changed with 2017 assembly polls amid a consensus that BJP managed to win over a large section of “most backwards“. “The challenge before us is to win back these communities, or at least a section of them,“ an MP said.
For observers, SP faces the classical challenge of political outfits which grow around a “core vote“ and gain support from other social groups. Over time, they have to share leadership outside the “core vote“ to retain loyalty of other communities or to win back their trust in times of crisis of confidence.
SP's decision to pick a Yadav veteran as leader of opposition in the state assembly has raised concerns that the community may end up leading the party in all key legislatures. While Ram Govind Choudhary has been named for assembly , Mulayam Singh Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav lead the party in the two Houses of the Parliament. Akhilesh has been ap pointed the leader of SP's joint legislature party.
The continued Yadav dominance in SP is seen as going against the need for the party to broaden its catchment area among OBCs, a lesson drawn from BJP's success in weaning away other backward communities through an antiYadav polarisation.
Advocates of `grand alliance' argue that for 2019, SP will have to recover its old base where “most backwards“ and non-Yadav strong OBCs like Kurmis have to be won back in good numbers. “It could have started with the symbolism of party face in assembly ,“ a strong advocate of the 'grand alliance' said.
Leaders caution that SP and BSP will have to avoid playing into the saffron hands, which means eschewing “mu scular secularism“ and YadavJatav politics -the three-pronged BJP attack which dented the regional outfits in assembly contest. A political push has started in earnest to bring SP , BSP and Congress together for Lok Sabha polls. While political animosity and overlapping votebanks made alliance between Mayawati and Mulayam impossible, it is seen as a reality post-assembly polls amid evidence of BJP's tightening grip over the 80-seat state.
However, it is argued that grand alliance will be beneficial only if supplemented by correctives learnt from the assembly debacle.
The Samajwadi umbrella used to comprise strong OBCs and `most backwards' both in the post-Mandal heat, but the pan-backward unity started fraying with the advent of BSP which appealed to the “most backwards“ alongside Dalits.This equation appears to have changed with 2017 assembly polls amid a consensus that BJP managed to win over a large section of “most backwards“. “The challenge before us is to win back these communities, or at least a section of them,“ an MP said.
For observers, SP faces the classical challenge of political outfits which grow around a “core vote“ and gain support from other social groups. Over time, they have to share leadership outside the “core vote“ to retain loyalty of other communities or to win back their trust in times of crisis of confidence.
