Dear Akhilesh, hypocrisy isn’t flattering!

“Before you can begin to think about politics at all, you have to abandon the notion that there is a war between good men and bad men.”

Yes, Akhilesh Yadav did play a huge role in the  massive win of SP in the UP Elections 2012, and one of the things that contributed significantly towards this massive win was his supposed-revamping of the party’s image by removing all persons from the party who had criminal records.

DP Yadav was the biggest example. He was denied a ticket to Samajwadi Party for his criminal profile – or so was claimed by our new Chief Minister, Akhilesh Yadav.

And then, all of us thought – that yeah! This guy is here to finally make a difference – he IS going to live up to his promises and our expectations to FINALLY establish the much needed peace and prosperity in Uttar Pradesh.

And this notion existed for quite some time, unless he himself brought it upon us to doubt him.

Dear Akhilesh, you cannot expect us to believe you if you appoint Raja Bhaiya – probably one of the most feared names in this state – as a Cabinet Minister! You promised us a crime-free state, and we were counting on you for it, but can you blame people for doubting you if you do the very thing you claimed you would eradicate?

Hypocrisy, hypocrisy.

Raja Bhaiya, aka, Raghuraj Pratap Singh won from Kunda  for the fifth time.

The list of crimes that the feared Raja Bhaiya has against him is long enough to make anyone squirm. He had eight declared criminal cases, including attempt to murder, dacoity and abduction, against him. The prominent one in his recent affidavit are the cases against him under the Uttar Pradesh Gangster Act. Raja Bhaiya also holds charge of food and civil supplies, despite charges of a multi-crore scam under his watch.

On being questioned on this decision of appointing Raja Bhaiya as the Cabinet Minister for Prisons, our CM was quick to defend his this move in a typical cliched political style. “You know that who slapped maximum cases against Raja Bhaiyya and if you ask with dates you will come to know in which dates these cases were slapped,” Akhilesh told reporters today after his swearing-in in Lucknow.

But as an article from an Outlook magazine aptly defines Raja Bhaiya:

“HE is the archetypal Chhote Thakur, straight out of a Mumbaiya Hindi potboiler. He holds court in his courtyard and delivers instant justice—slaps   jurmaana (fine) on ‘erring subjects’ or orders a ‘sound’ thrashing. His subjects, poor men, women and children, touch his feet with their foreheads, pleading for mercy. Outside his fortressed Bainti Estate, people queue up every morning to offer salutations, their bodies bent at 90 degrees, hands raised in a namaste above their heads.”

Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Akhilesh!

To make such a person UP Minister of Prisons, why not have Rakhi Sawant as the Minister for Culture then? 😀

________________________________________________________________________

Sources:
http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?204592
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/lucknow/Akhilesh-Yadav-makes-Raja-Bhaiya-in-charge-of-UP-prisons/articleshow/12321244.cms

…….And the cycle is back in action!

Dinnertime is buzzing with election fever.

Now, that the results are actually out – with Samjhwadi Party coming out with full majority of over 220 seats out of 403 seats, and BSP lagging behind with a mere 80, the first thing that comes to my mind is that how the election results of this time are the exact opposite of the ones last time in 2007.

In 2007, the situation was exactly the opposite – with BSP bustling with seats and votes and SP struggling between 75-90.

BJP and Congress didn’t improve at all. In fact, their numbers were almost the same as they were in 2007 – give or take a few seats.

For good, or for bad, we’re stuck with SP for five years now.

My analysis of what led to this miraculous recovery and tremendous win of Samajhwadi party is actually based on quite simple lines.

The first and foremost reason for this terrific win was UP’s political scion, Akhilesh Yadav.

There can be no argument that this guy was instrumental and pivotal in bringing about such a huge victory. Akhilesh Yadav might not be any Rahul Gandhi, and he hardly got as much media space as he probably deserves – but the man is a genius.

Unlike Rahul Gandhi, he hasn’t got everyone – even the media – defending all his moves, but that’s the thing – his campaign was for the PEOPLE, and that is what ultimately mattered, because his down-to-earth, connected to his roots nature is what got him and his party a win as huge as this.

He played a vital role in revamping the image of his father, Mulayam Singh’s party – which had attained the the title of ‘gunda-raj’ during their 2003-07 tenure. He assured the people that law and order would never be a problem in UP again in their rule. He threw out notorious criminals from his party, but most of it all – he imparted to SP what they needed the most – dynamism.

SP has always had the Yadavas and the Muslim vote banks, but Akhilesh Yadav gave the party what it had lacked for long. He gave it the confidence of the urban people.

The election results in heavily biased, and influenced cities of Lucknow, which has always been heavily BJP influenced, Rae Bareli, Amethi also went in favor of SP – because Akhilesh Yadav was someone who all of us connected to at one level, or the other. Not only is he talented in something which runs in his blood, but also modern and progressive. And not to forget, he had us all charmed by the way he wittingly retorted, yet fell short of insulting, Mayawati and Rahul Gandhi.

He singlehandedly managed to change the gunda raj image of his party, a party like Samjhwadi Party, no less. And for that, he sure deserves an applause.

Another factor that cannot be ignored was that the people of Uttar Pradesh were desperate for a change in governance. They were done with Mayawati, her corrupt acts, her insistence on spending crores of rupees on making statues of herself and elephants. A quick look at the opponents gave them three possible choices – SP, Congress and BJP.

Out of these three, SP emerged out the clear winner, for quite simple reasons.

The limpness of the Congress and its Santa Claus in a helicopter who fails to deliver made it not just an unlikely choice because of the still-fresh wounds of corrupt leaders and   various scams, but also because of extreme failure of their much celebrated fist-thumping and articulate gesticulation abiding raj kunwar in actually connecting with the general public. Attracting public to rallies is not enough to win their votes, Rahul ji, especially since you’ve said it all, and done nothing about it. Histrionics don’t help all the time, you know.

This, coupled with a bickering BJP, with a attitude full of cockiness – facing the problem of being high-handed and not connected to the masses, made SP the clear winner in the 2012 elections.

People of Uttar Pradesh wanted Mayawati out, and since there was a general lack of confidence in Congress and UP – they turned to the only viable alternative – SP.

All the extra voting this year turned out in favour of SP. It seems to me that people were looking for a stability in the government which only comes with the absence of coalition.

Moreover, UP managed to vote across caste and religious lines – though the Muslim vote probably proved decisive in swinging the election fully SP’s way. But Dalits did not all vote for Mayawati, and the upper castes did not all vote Congress of BJP. The OBCs went many ways. Class is beginning to matter as much as caste in UP politics.

Akhilesh Yadav has promised us that this time round law and order would be maintained, and let’s hope that that is how it turns out to be. We don’t need any more reminding of the ‘gunda-raj’.

But for now, the elephant’s taken a 5 year sabbatical, and the puncture’s been fixed, and the cycle is back in action.

It’s only a question of whether it’ll last five years without a puncture or not.