The Samajwadi Party (SP) is the main opposition in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and today it is engaged in a verbal war with the Congress over the elections in Madhya Pradesh (MP).
Both the Congress and the SP are part of the I.N.D.I.A. alliance.
Twentyeight Opposition parties have joined forces recently to defeat the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 general elections. But at the moment the SP seems as annoyed with the Congress as it is with the ruling party.
The SP feels that the Congress bullies regional parties like ‘Bigg Boss’, the reality show on television. Akhilesh Yadav was furious at being called ‘Akhilesh Vakhilesh’ by Congress leader Kamal Nath in Madhya Pradesh.
Snapped senior SP leader and Rajya Sabha member Ram Gopal Yadav saying that the Congress leader is just a ‘chutbhaiya’, or a small timer. On another occasion, Akhilesh Yadav dismissed the UP Congress Committee president Ajay Rai as a ‘chirkut’, or an unfaithful person.
The SP was founded in 1992, and the party has contested general elections and state assembly elections in several states but remains a dominant force in UP alone.
A Spoilt Child
Why is the SP fielding such a long list of candidates in MP is anybody’s guess. The gesture is not expected to strengthen the alliance.
The expectation was that Akhilesh Yadav would canvas for the INDIA alliance backed candidates in MP. He is not doing that. Like a spoiled child he is announcing more and more names of SP contestants who have little chance of winning the elections.
The joke making the rounds in Lucknow is to bet whether another list of candidates will be announced before the nomination filing process in MP ends on October 30, or not!
It is true that the SP has won elections in MP in the past. There is a large community of Yadav and Kurmi voters in Bundelkhand that support the SP.
The SP had earlier agreed to contest elections in MP in partnership with the Congress but is now contesting it independently.
In the last Assembly elections in MP, the SP had won two seats, and the Congress 114 seats out of the total number of 230 seats.
Forgetting how the alliance parties had put their weight behind the SP candidate Sudhakar Singh to ensure his victory in a by poll held last September in UP’s Ghosi assembly constituency, SP chief Akhilesh Yadav is releasing list after list of candidates fielded by him in the MP elections.
The SP had won two seats in the last state Assembly election in MP but this time it has already floated names of about 45 candidates in the forthcoming elections to be held in MP on November 17.
Political analysts feel that it is a straight fight between the Congress and the ruling party in MP and the SP contestants will only cut into the votes of the Congress to benefit the ruling party. Does the SP even care, is the question.
Sickening Sycophancy
Seriously speaking there seems no limit to sycophancy, at least in the Lucknow office of the Samajwadi Party (SP). Is it possible to put up a poster of the Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav projecting him as the next Prime Minister (PM) of India without his knowledge?
Although Akhilesh Yadav clarified that no one becomes the PM just by appearing on posters, he has not advised SP workers to refrain from fawning, and flattering the political leadership. Yadav said that if a supporter has put up a poster he is expressing what he wants.
Last Monday, Lucknow woke up to a hoarding put outside the Lucknow office of the SP to declare Akhilesh Yadav as the future PM. The incident has been ridiculed by political opponents, making a member of the ruling party call it a pipedream of the SP.
Other citizens clicked their tongues and hoped that Akhilesh Yadav, leader of the main opposition in Uttar Pradesh (UP) was capable of a more lofty gesture.
The promise should be to benefit the citizens of UP who remain deprived of development in the most backward and poverty stricken province of the country that has a sprawling population which suffers high rates of illiteracy, and ill health.
Sahir Ludhianvi
Much before Faiz Ahmed Faiz wrote ‘Hum Dekhenge’ (I will be witness) in 1979, Sahir Ludhianvi had already written ‘Avaaz-e-Adam’ (the voice of man) in 1949. The poet had wondered ‘dabegi kab talak aavaaz-e-adam hum bhi dekhenge… rukenge kab talak jazbaat-e-barham hum bhi dekhenge’ (how long will the voice of Adam remain suppressed I will witness, how long will suppressed emotions contain I will witness.)
Sahir means enchanter or magician. He was born Abdul Hai in 1921 in Ludhiana and took on Sahir as his pen name later in life.
The 40th death anniversary of poet Sahir Ludhianvi was observed in Lucknow this year with a theatre performance by ace dastango Himanshu Bajpai and Pragya Sharma. Titled ‘Dastan-e-Sahir’ (The Story of Sahir) Bajpai put together a mesmerising portrait of the poet as a human being.
The immense success enjoyed by Sahir as a lyricist in the film industry, and his numerous love affairs had overshadowed the deep concern expressed in his poetry for the poor and the voiceless in society.
It is the power of his protest poetry against the ruling elite that is brought to the fore in yet another play directed by Danish Husain and also based on the story of Sahir as told by Bajpai.
Husain’s ‘Main Pal Do Pal Ka Shair Hoon’ is inspiring for bringing back to life one of the country’s most mysterious poets whose work revolved around the plight of the mazdoor (labourer), mazloom (underdog) and the mehboob (beloved).
Wrote Sahir that the wealthy have distributed amongst themselves all the buildings, leaving us only the footpath as a home in Mumbai. ‘Jitni bhi buildingein thiin sethon ney baant li hain, footpath Bambai ke, hain aashiyaan humaara.’
Born in a Gujjar community of landlords in Ludhiana, Sahir chose to live in the literary capital of Lahore till 1949. Once the socially aware poet realised that Pakistan was grooming itself to contain Soviet Communism, he travelled back to India to make a home in Mumbai. Here, he had lived for the rest of his life as a fearless critic of the government.
Many decades ago Sahir wrote that religion which teaches hatred is not your religion and that which tramples another human being is not your step, “‘nafrat jo khaye woh dharam tera nahin hai, insaan ko jo raundey woh qadam tera nahin hai’.” Sahir who passed away on October 25 in 1980 is sorely missed today, more than ever!