Mulayam-Lalu-Nitish in La-La-land as Janata Parivar flexes tired muscles

The first joint `dharna’ of the remnants of the old `Janata Parivar’ ended with Mulayam Singh Yadav’s call to capture power in Delhi. The Samajwadi Party chief appears to have forgotten that elections to the Lok Sabha were held just seven months ago. And he himself is a ripe 75 years of age, and may possibly be in no position to lead the parivar in 2019.

Barring Nitish Kumar, the other leaders appeared to be in La-La-land.

Mulayam Singh seemed oblivious to the presence of Janata Dal (S) chief Deve Gowda and jailed INLD chief OP Chautala’s grandson Abhay Chautala on the dais. He said that “we can’t just be limited to UP and Bihar” when the JD(S) has a base (though shrinking) in Karnataka and the INLD in Haryana. Does he think they don’t count?

The Samajwadi chief also said, almost without irony, that Janata Parivar leaders were the rightful rulers of India as they were clean and had the ability to fight a long-drawn battle with the Delhi regime. He also claimed none of them were billionaires. His words were: “Yehan neta bedag hain, sangharsh karne wale hai, koi arabpati nahi hai.”

Spotless is not the word one would use to describe convicted leaders like Lalu Prasad of the RJD or Chautala of the INLD. But Yadav was confident that his caravan of “bedag” leaders will defeat the BJP.

The tall claims of the Janata Parivar will be tested on Tuesday, when results to the Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand assembly elections will be out. No one is betting that the Congress-Nitish-Lalu Prasad alliance is going to make a spectacular showing.

Only a few days ago, Mulayam Singh had said in the Lok Sabha that conversions in Agra were not an issue and didn’t quite understand why Parliament was wasting so much of time and energy over it. But at the dharna site, leader after leader kept talking about the subject. They claimed to be the sole protectors of minority sensitivities and their workers were willing to die for the cause of secularism.

Lalu Prasad painted himself as a development messiah. Bihar under him was not known to be a growth tiger, but he did claim credit for turning around the Indian Railways during UPA-1. He chose not to reflect on why Nitish Kumar, his friend-turned-foe-turned-friend, ousted him from power in Patna by slamming his “jungle raj”.

Nitish Kumar was the one who came with some preparation. He played audio recordings of Narendra Modi’s promises on the campaign trail, including those on bringing back black money. The JD(U) leader targeted Modi for his failure to deliver on his promises.

Nitish’s supporters believe that though Mulayam has been named leader for now, it will actually be Nitish who will ultimately be well-placed to challenge Modi in times to come. “Nitish Kumar is clean, has the profile, articulation and age on his side. But that issue (of leadership) will have to be fought out internally in due course,” said one political observer. A lot will depend on how he fares in the Bihar assembly elections next December.

Monday’s dharna was not just a simple show of unity among leaders of the Janata Parivar but a statement of intent on the proposed merger of their parties — Samajwadi, JD(U), RJD, JD(S) and INLD.

Though the show was out and out a Samajwadi Party show — workers donning the party’s red party caps were seen everywhere — the RJD, JD(U) and INLD too had some placards and banners. But they were no match to the SP’s dominant presence.

That is indicative of the inner turf war going on within the parivar before the merger. While there is a broad understanding on the merger, with Mulayam Singh being named as their leader for now, and with Nitish and Lalu calling it a truce, some major stumbling blocks remain. It is understood that the party will be called the Samajwadi Janata Dal. but there is conflict among the leaders about the prospective party’s election symbol, control of funds and other assets that the individual parties currently have.

Though the favoured colour of the socialists is green, the dharna site was painted red in the Samajawadi Party’s colours. Mulayam Singh wore a red cap, the décor of the dais was also red, and the carpets below were red. The green is too heavily identified with INLD and RJD. The Samajwadi Party organisers obviously were in no mood to be generous to them, at least for now.

Both Modi and his rivals will look for the message from the verdict in J&K and Jharkhand to check if there is any change in the winds that blew in May 2014. The parivar will get its chance to display its political muscle only when the Bihar polls are held next year.