Tharoor In The Hot Seat

The passing away of 82-year-old Samajwadi Party (SP) founder Mulayam Singh Yadav or Netaji last Monday had made the heavens howl. Deafening thunder kept citizens awake, and ferocious lightning throughout the night had threatened to tear the sky apart as SP supporters drowned in a relentless rainfall of sorrow.

The following day a sea of people travelled to the Mela Ground in Netaji's native village Safai in western Uttar Pradesh (UP). The crowd had jostled to get a last glimpse of Netaji before bidding the politician goodbye. After having performed the last rites of his father, former Chief Minister and SP head Akhilesh Yadav, 49 tweeted that for the first time in his life morning had dawned without the sun.

So many people are sorrowful at such a large scale at having lost Netaji because during his lifetime he had enjoyed a direct connect with socialist party workers on the ground. Netaji had remembered numerous names and the contact number of many members of his party.

He was loved by the poorest of the poor who are also the majority population. He had spent more than half a century trying to empower ordinary people in a state which remains one of the most backward in the country. Netaji's life is a glowing example of a democratic, secular and pro-people politician who is a rare breed today.

Inspired by the pro-farmer politics of his mentor Chaudhary Charan Singh, Netaji had challenged the upper caste dominated politics of the Congress Party in UP to turn the spotlight on the plight of the backward caste population of the state. He was a forward looking leader of the backward caste and class of people.

However, Netaji's political grit was witnessed even before the independence of the country from colonial rule. At the age of 13 years he was arrested by the British administration for running around town in a red cap shouting inquilab zindabad (long live the revolution).

He is remembered for taking on the politics of a state dominated by a handful of elite people in UP, on a bicycle. His politics of confrontation was perhaps influenced by the rules of the game that he had learnt early in life as a wrestler.

Netaji was cunning to the core at the prime of his political life when he managed to bag the highest office in the state as chief minister.

Throughout his life he had stood like a rock for social justice and against communal politics forever championing the cause of the most needy, like farmers.

Due to his concern for fellow Muslim citizens, he was mocked as Maulana Mulayam. His reply to his political opponents was clever but also polite. He said that there was no comparison between him and learned people like a maulana!

His political opponents saw him as an anti-hero and a live wire who had scorched everything that he touched. A son of the soil, Netaji is responsible for waking up the political consciousness of people belonging to the backward caste who are nearly 40 percent of the total population of the largest populated state of UP.

How will the unfinished business of Netaji be taken forward? His politics was responsible for shaking the root of the privileged upper castes in the state but Netaji was unable to convince the Dalits who are about 20 percent of the state's total population to work with him.

The challenge today is to get the backward castes and Dalits to together combat the divisive politics engineered by vested interests who seem unconcerned about the welfare of the weakest in society.

Today the SP founded by Netaji is already the main Opposition party in UP, standing up to the suicidal politics of communalism and the hurried corporatisation of the economy of a country of poor people.

Unfortunately the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) leader Mayawati seems to have given up in trying to carry forward the legacy of her late mentor Kanshiram the Dalit leader. Will Akhilesh Yadav succeed in creating the much needed solidarity between the backward castes and Dalits in the state? That is the million dollar question.

Shashi Tharoor's Future

The death of Netaji prompted the Congress Party presidential hopeful Shashi Tharoor to cancel the promotion of the Hindi translation of his latest book The Battle of Belonging in Lucknow last Monday. Lucknow has heard stories that Tharoor has worked hard to improve his Hindi speaking skills in order to increase communication with the people of north India.

Therefore people here look forward to finding out how fluent Tharoor really is in Hindi? Does Tharoor know that the fate of the Congress in UP is sluggish, that the party is almost dead?

Party secretary Priyanka Gandhi who worked in Lucknow for some months has failed to charm the electorate. Despite that reality will the Gandhi family allow Tharoor to take decisions independently if he is voted to the position of national president of the Congress?

Does Tharoor know who the current president of the UP Congress Committee (UPCC) is? If he becomes national president which state will he spruce up first?

There is considerable support for Tharoor here. The argument is that he is well educated, youthful and works very hard to reach out to voters on the ground.

He has superb communication skills and some sense of humour as well. Even as he is respectful towards the party high command, Tharoor does not sound like a yes man, and speaks his mind fearlessly.

Apart from winning elections from his native Kerala, Tharoor is a thinking politician and a man with ideas of the kind of future that is best for the country. In his latest book he presents an alternative to majoritarian hyper nationalism and the imposition upon the country of an elusive uniformity.

He is against the exclusion of any citizen from the affairs of the country that is home to all citizens. Tharoor is appreciated for swearing by ideas of freedom, making the future of democratic and secular values seem safe under his leadership.

For all those looking for youthful, smart politicians to strengthen the unity of the country by bringing its diverse populations closer to each other, Tharoor is their man of the future. To the delight of all lovers of freedom of thought, Tharoor is appreciated also for engaging in multiple debates, dialogues and elections.

Now news has just come in that after all Tharoor will keep his date with Lucknow. He promises to be back in the city on Sunday October 16 when Metaphor The Lucknow LitFest will host him to talk about Asmita Ka Sangharsh, the Hindi translation of his book The Battle of Belonging. The title of the talk is Epistemophilia or an excessive love of knowledge.