Akhilesh Yadav struggles to deliver

Even as the Bihar Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar, has once again grabbed headlines by his very clear views on who he does not want projected as the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate in the 2014 elections, in Uttar Pradesh, the young Akhilesh Yadav is struggling to deliver on promises.

It was with a lot of fanfare and expectations that the Samajwadi Party chief, Mr Mulayam Singh’s son was sworn in as the youngest chief minister of India’s most populous state, after the Party’s astounding victory barely four months ago. Through some smart caste and community engineering, and cashing in on the anti-incumbency factor, the SP stormed into power in March. The younger Yadav’s choice as chief minister was hailed by all sections, particularly the youth, who expected spectacular changes.

As the Akhilesh Government completed 100 days in office on June 23, only Daddy dear seemed to be happy with the son’s performance, giving him “100 out of 100”. Elsewhere in the State, there were complaints that nothing much had changed at the ground level, and there were three de facto chief ministers — Mulayam Singh, the Muslim satrap in the party, Azam Khan, and uncle, Shivpal Singh Yadav.

Charges of corruption

Leader of the Opposition and BSP State president, Swami Prasad Maurya, charged that there was a racket in the transfer of bureaucrats. At least 2,000 IAS and IPS officers had been transferred in three months “which means each officer has been transferred twice within 100 days”, he said.

That Mr Akhilesh has asked his ministers — all 48 of them — to declare their assets once again, is a pointer to charges of corruption against his government being a cause of concern. “What is shocking is that a number of corrupt officials who ruled the roost during the Mayawati era have been given plum postings in a goldmine such as Noida. This does not inspire much confidence in the Chief Minister,” says a political observer.

He says people can forgive the whims of their netas for putting up more parks and commemorating SP’s icons such as Jayaprakash Narayan and Ram Manohar Lohia, which Mr Akhilesh has set about doing. But what cannot be condoned is the SP Government’s lacklustre response to checking crime and improving law and order.

Lawlessness, hooliganism

For instance, Lucknow residents are fed up with huge SUVs with SP flags blocking main roads, overspeeding on the streets and creating a general climate of dehshat gardi (terrorising people). The SP’s spells of reign have been associated with a general breakdown in law and order and Akhilesh was expected to set this right. UP’s women, who voted for SP, are particularly unhappy about this. Also, what certainly does not inspire confidence are reports that jailed SP leaders are having a free run of the prisons and are found frequently travelling to hospitals for their “medical problems.”

Notorious is the case of former minister and SP leader, Amarmani Tripathi, who is serving a life sentence in Gorakhpur jail for the murder of poet Madhumita Shukla. He is even said to have organised a mujra inside the prison and frequently takes a day off from the prison to visit a nearby hospital in his SUV, and not the prison van!

That there are such atrocities taking place under the watch of the man who had put his foot down firmly against the return of the notorious D. P. Yadav to the SP fold during the Assembly elections, is causing resentment and heartburn. Somewhere in the grime and filth of dirty party politics is getting buried the image of a young, fresh-faced, tech-savvy Akhilesh who was expected to steer UP away from backwardness and lawlessness towards development and prosperity.

Sabotage and backstabbing?

But there is a segment of people in UP who believe that Mr Akhilesh has become a victim of party politics and sabotage by his own relatives and senior leaders close to his father. Mr Mulayam himself is accused of backseat-driving of the government, and Mr Akhilesh can hardly take on the formidable netaji himself. Then, he has to contend with seniors such as Mr Azam Khan, the Muslim face of the Party, in a State where the minority vote is as high as 15 per cent, and his uncle, Mr Shivpal Singh Yadav. Mr Mulayam had to face a storm of protests from both the leaders while anointing his son as Chief Minister of UP.

While a hundred-odd days might be too soon to take stock of a government, the mood of disenchantment has set in and to reverse this will be an uphill task. Veteran journalist and political analyst in Lucknow, Mr Sharat Pradhan, even though “hugely disappointed”, gives the benefit of doubt to his young CM. “He comes through as well meaning and sincere and wanting to change things in UP, but people around him want him to fail. Even though difficult to pinpoint, it looks as though a conspiracy is brewing in his own backyard by his relatives and some others to discredit him.”

“Senior bureaucrats who praise his capability to govern say that he is not firm when it comes to taking decisions. ”

As a result, says Mr Pradhan, some of the development initiatives he has taken on the infrastructure front — on roads, flyover etc, where projects have been cleared and orders issued — are overshadowed by the visible failure to check the lumpen and goonda elements within his own party.

The worst thing, he adds, is that bogged down by these difficulties, Mr Akhilesh is shutting himself off from the media and the people. The janata durbar that he had started is languishing and the roadblocks to his house that had been removed by the initially accessible CM have returned “under the guise of threat perception”.

‘Well-meaning and enthusiastic, but weak and ineffective’, seems to be verdict from the 100 days of the Mr Akhilesh reign. Which way is he headed and what’s in store for UP is anybody’s guess.

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