Shivpal Yadav may have crossed a line this time with nephew Akhilesh

Ten years after the infamous Nithari killings, what had aparently faded into history was the most insensitive remark by Shivpal Yadav, UP’s most powerful minister at the time – “Aisi choti–moti ghatnayen to hoti rehti hain" (such minor incidents do keep occurring).

Sure enough many had seen this younger brother of the ruling Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and the uncle of chief minister Akhilesh Yadav making this statement with a smirk across TV screens everywhere in 2006.  What brought that ugly memory back was last month’s Mathura violence, which took as many as 30 lives.

After all, it was Shivpal once again at the epicentre of the storm that rocked Mathura.

And if it was his Nithari remark that triggered the fall of the then Mulayam government, sure enough it was Shivpal’s alleged proximity with Mathura villain Ram Vriksh Yadav that was threatening to wash away whatever good his nephew Akhilesh’s government had been able to deliver against many odds.

However, far from getting cowed down because of the exposure of his nexus with the man (Ram Vriksh Yadav), who openly defied the law of the land to establish his hold over a 280-acre government land in Mathura, Shivpal has gone about proclaiming his supremacy over his nephew on more than one occasion.

Many attribute this to the return of political juggler Amar Singh, who had maneouvered his way back into the SP fold from where he was ousted unceremoniously six years ago. 

Singh, who is credited with the skills to forge divide between families (the famous Ambanis being a classic case) is seen as a force behind Shivpal, who was largely responsible for getting him back into Mulayam’s lap.

And mind you, Shivpal succeeded in the mission despite stiff opposition from not just Akhilesh, but even his equally influential older cousin Ram Gopal Yadav, who was also the party’s national general secretary, as well as the all pervading minister Azam Khan, the party’s key Muslim face.

These three heavyweights together could not match the machinations of a wily Amar Singh, whose magic wand had already cast such a spell over Shivpal that the latter was literally eating out of Amar’s hand. 

While the rumour mills kept churning out stories of Amar Singh winning Mulayam’s favour in return of his promise to get the SP chief off the CBI hook in the CBI disproportionate assets case, the blatant exposure of Shivpal’s unholy nexus with Ram Vriksh Yadav has failed to deter the uncle from flexing his muscles against the nephew Akhilesh. 

What has apparently boosted Shivpal’s morale was his repeated success in the showdown against the nephew. Commencing with the re-entry of Amar Singh, whom Mulayam even rewarded with a precious Rajya Sabha berth, Shivpal got away with backing Ram Vriksh Yadav to the hilt.

And now he could even have his way in orchestrating the backdoor entry of mafia don-turned politician Mukhtar Ansari into the Samajwadi Party. That was engineered by the crafty merger of Ansari’s Qaumi Ekta Party with SP on Tuesday, while Akhilesh was away from the state capital. 

Having been used to silently taking the onslaughts by the uncle, the submissive nephew could never muster up the courage to stand up before him, because he could see father Mulayam invariably choosing to go with uncle Shivpal.

Albeit late in the day, to everybody’s surprise came a rude snub from Akhilesh, who decided to say, "enough is enough".

The 42-year-old chief minister chose to assert his authority for the first time in four years by serving a sack order to senior minister Balram Yadav, who had initiated Ansari’s re-induction into the party.

The firing of the minister, considered close to both Shivpal as well as Mulayam, has served a severe jolt to both, who were so used to having Akhilesh quietly toe their line.  

Sure enough, the action has aroused much commotion within the party rank and file. While Akhilesh chose to express his protest by cancelling all his official engagements on Wednesday, Shivpal was going to town announcing that whatever he did had Mulayam’s sanction.   

The battle lines in the family were drawn and Akhilesh had, at long last, made up his mind not to take it lying down anymore. Going by the past experience, such assertion by Akhilesh may eventually pay dividends at the hustings.

It was no secret that when SP hit a record tally of 224 in the 403-member UP Assembly in the 2012 elections, it was clearly attributed to his single-handed “no” to the entry of another mafia don-turned politician DP Yadav. Then too Akhilesh was pitted against the Mulayam-Shivpal duo who went all out to support DP Yadav.  

Finally, having his way with the unusually gutsy stand, Akhilesh was able to send the message that here was a young man all set to turn over a new leaf.

Once again, he seems to be facing a similar challenge from his own kin. He is stated to have told insiders that after focusing all his attention on development, which he hopes to showcase as his USP, he was not ready to go campaigning for “criminals and outlaws.”

What remains to be seen is whether he succeeds in hammering his way out once again.