Akhilesh Yadav, president of the Samajwadi Party and former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, is a man known for discipline in personal life and habit to stick to his routine. So, from daily workouts that also include cycling on certain days to spending ‘quality time’ with his family, all have been part of his life during the past few months of lockdown.
But beyond the personal, politician Akhilesh too has been busy over this period since March 25 when the nationwide lockdown was imposed. This may seem like a contradiction to the perceived notion of the Samajwadi Party not being too proactive in terms of street protests or activism on the ground during these months.
This argument further gained strength with the highly visible presence of Congressmen on the roads. So the question is what was politician Akhilesh doing over this time?
Well it may surprise many to learn that Akhilesh Yadav was consistent in his visits to the party’s headquarters on Vikramaditya Marg in Lucknow. Rarely a day has gone by when the SP chief skipped this schedule. Around 11.30am is the time when his cavalcade reaches the party office and the socialist leader gets busy with the business at hand.
GRASSROOTS CONNECT-THE DIGITAL SAMAJWADI
Once at his office, the party president straightaway connects with his leaders and especially the grassroots workers at the booth level. On an average, Akhilesh uses the FaceTime app on his iPhone to get in touch with 50 to 60 people. Assisting him during the conversations is a small team of close confidantes including senior leader and MLC Rajendra Chaudhary.
But a lot has happened before this stage. Describing the process, a senior functionary working in the party headquarters, says, “We as the party have strongly focused on the digital outreach and doing the silent groundwork. Under the directions of the party president, a team has worked round the clock to create a digital footprint of our booth level committees. The effort is to keep a personal record of every booth-level worker and his committee at the highest level of the party organisation. This has facilitated the top leadership to keep a direct tab on the grassroots sentiment and fix the accountability of leaders.”
A full-fledged digital room, equipped with state-of-the-art facilities to further propel the SP’s online edge is already coming up at the party office. Expected to become formally functional by Diwali, it will function as a war room, enabling Akhilesh Yadav and his team in coordinating, monitoring and communicating with leaders and workers across the state.
GROUNDWORK BEFORE THE ELECTORAL BLITZKRIEG
Silently working out of his office over the past few months, the SP president has also been keeping an eye on the emerging politics in the state. He has not just been consistent and aggressive in his tweets and statements against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Yogi Adityanath government on issues ranging from alleged mismanagement in handling the novel coronavirus pandemic to the crisis of migrant labourers and the deteriorating law and order situation in the state. He has also maintained a close watch on the politics of other opposition parties as well.
So, from the Congress’s activism to the Priyanka Gandhi Vadra factor and rising “Brahmin discontent”, Akhilesh is observing and assessing it all. Though a bit dormant, an increasing assertion on the ground and the party’s strong intervention in trying to capitalise on the Brahmin politics by declaring to build a statue of Lord Parashuram is a reflection of the fact that Samajwadis are now trying to build momentum.
The question is what does this strategy imply? Sources say it is all about the SP leadership’s confidence of being the principal opposition party in the state of Uttar Pradesh. The Samajwadi Party at this stage is more than happy with the likes of the Congress and to an extent the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) confronting the BJP.
MLC Sunil Singh Sajan of the Samajwadi party echoes this, saying, “The Samajwadi Party is the biggest opposition force and our leader Akhilesh Yadav is the single-most established face against the BJP in UP. When elections come, it will be the SP against the BJP.” Clearly, the party feels that it will be the most preferred choice in capitalising on the anti-BJP sentiment built by the opposition as a whole.
Sunil Sajan officially brushes aside any possible roadblocks from the Congress or AAP. He says, “While the Congress has no organisation or solid base in Uttar Pradesh, AAP is nothing beyond state capital Lucknow.” However, the party in general is not that unconcerned by the Congress factor.
That’s the reason why the Samajwadi Party is planning its own electoral blitzkrieg after Diwali. A senior leader, wishing to remain anonymous, says, “Though we are pleased with other opposition parties contributing in building a larger sentiment against the Yogi Adityanath government, we are not going to sit idle. The party plans a mega electoral push after Diwali” .
Sources say after months of silent work towards strengthening the organisation, the time ahead will see Akhilesh Yadav himself embarking on his ‘Kranti Rath Yatra’ and moving across the length and breadth of the state. Before Akhilesh venturing out and hitting the roads, the SP is also carrying out appointments in various party committees and frontal organisations.
SOLID VOTE BANK BASE AND BRAND AKHILESH
For the Samajwadi Party, a bit of a late start and slow build-up is supplemented by the fact that it has a strong vote base to bank upon. Party leaders are confident of the core Muslim-Yadav ( MY) factor still being intact when it comes to the assembly polls. It’s a social combination which has more or less been intact with the party over the past three decades.
Grounded in this tested social equation, the party is also hopeful of making some dent in the BJP’s Brahmin vote bank. But beyond the caste arithmetic, it’s also the ‘Brand Akhilesh’ that Samajwadi leaders feel will be of importance.
An image of a development-oriented leader with a clean record and having an appeal both among the urban and the rural voters can be the deciding factor in the 2022 electoral battle.
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