UP election 2017: History may have clues but Akhilesh-Mulayam divide is difficult to predict

As Mulayam Singh Yadav announced that his son and Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav has been expelled from the party for six years, he ringed in a state of party politics, and family feud that Indian politics may not have witnessed it before in a country even as politically charged as ours. And politics in India has over the years had plenty to do with families and dynasties, some even synonymous with the political history of India itself. This is a truly unique situation. A father and son tiff that first spilled out in public and now in the party, and soon into the very structures of administration these parties vie for. [caption id=“attachment_3181722” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Akhilesh Yadav and Mulayam Singh Yadav. PTI[/caption] The shock from the event aside, there have been events in history that may tell us what to expect from this unique situation. For that, it is important to analyse the layered conflict that this ejection of Yadav from the party will result in. For starters, the most immediate impact that this will have is on the state of the party, which also happens to be in power. There have been a number of instances not too long ago that have played out on this landscape. Here are some to take cue from: Jitan Ram Manjhi - Nitish Kumar Only two years ago the then Bihar chief minister openly revolted against party supremo Nitish Kumar, whose place he had technically taken on throne after the former had resigned following the 2014 election results. Manjhi was criticised and mocked by opposition parties for being a puppet at the hands of Kumar. When asked to resign by the party to make for Kumar, Manjhi refused and openly criticised his former mentor. A vote of confidence was suggested at first, but eventually Manjhi resigned and broke away from the party. VS Achuthanandan – Pinarayi Vijayan The two leading faces of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) have perennially been at loggerheads with each other. In 2007, the two were suspended by the party from the politburo for openly criticising each other. The feud did not end there and continued. In 2009 when Achuthanandan was chief minister, the Vijayan camp survived a corruption charged and instead got the chief minister suspended from the politburo. While the party was openly critical of the Minister, they let him continue at his post. Chandra Babu Naidu – NT Rama Rao Perhaps the closest we can get to a similar situation in political history is Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu’s coupe on his father-in-law NT Rama Rao (NTR) in 1995. Rao was in the space of a midnight ousted by his son-in-law, who assumed his place as both party chief and chief minister in September of 1995. While it was a different relationship, and Naidu had earlier fought and lost over a Congress ticket, it was also a play on family relations. Rao died a year later of a heart attack. Rao’s widow Lakshmi Parvati significantly revolted against Naidu’s opportunism and crossing of family lines. While Naidu easily curbed Parvati’s dissent and that of her faction within the party. He eventually had to acknowledge similar anger by Rao’s surviving sons. Ironically, Naidu had to refurbish Rao’s legacy within the party and across the state. But Naidu’s coupe was still nowhere close to poisoning the bloodline as this father-son tiff might prove to be. The most interesting questions would be whether Akhilesh will be allowed to remain as chief minister? How would the party in itself react? Who will actually benefit from the fracture or will both eventually turn out to be losers? And most importantly, the crucial subversive question on the father-son relationship – how will they now see eye to eye if it is at all possible. What is undeniable is that both father and son will have to at some point sit across from each other to discuss this particular event. Whether it is the father-son divide that surfaces or the political opponents who rear their head, with elections around the corner, it makes for a thoroughly intriguing reading of what might or might not happen.