It’s RAM (Rahul, Akhilesh, Maya) in UP

Uttar Pradesh is witnessing a youth revolution of sorts. And it is not the uncrowned ‘prince’ of the Congress party, Rahul Gandhi, who is bringing it about alone. Every party in this stirring cauldron of cut-throat politics is out to seize the opportunity with their own youth icons.

It was during the recent Lok Sabha elections that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) projected its own Gandhi (Varun) as the saffron brigade’s new poster boy. So starved was the party — dotted with faces that have been around for several decades — for a youth to call its own, that it even went to the extent of backing Varun’s incendiary mouthfuls targeting minorities. With the elections over and Rahul Gandhi’s sterling performance there for all to see, it was the turn of the Samajwadi Party (SP) party’s chief, Mulayam Singh Yadav, to install his son as the party’s state president. Though Mulayam has often denied he supports dynastic succession, it is clear that he is grooming Akhilesh as his successor.

Yet, Mulayam’s decision is not surprising. “At a time when half of the electorate in our country is below 35, what else do you expect,” asks a senior political journalist, “Mulayam has taken the right decision at the right time. After all, he is above 70 and it is sensible to pass on the baton before the next round of elections and before another challenger for the top post surfaces.”

The rise of youth power in these parties is bad news for Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief and UP CM Mayawati. For her party just doesn’t have a youth leader to match up to Rahul Gandhi or Akhilesh Yadav. Moreover, given Mayawati’s dictatorial control, party insiders say even if a youth leader is available, he/she will not be allowed to grow.

The BSP’s Rajya Sabha member, Brijesh Pathak, 45, and UP health minister Anant Kumar Misra, 43, are perhaps the party’s only youth faces. Pathak is in-charge of party affairs in Delhi and Rajasthan; Misra looks after Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand. Both are credited with excellent organisational work. But the BSP does not seem to have any plan to combat the growing youth power in other parties.

Everybody wants Rahul
From a decadent, conceited and uninspiring unit before the Lok Sabha election, the UP Congress has changed into a vibrant outfit ready for a fight. Much of the credit for this must go to Rahul Gandhi.

After all, the party which had won just nine seats in 2004, cracked up an impressive 21, one more than the ruling BSP. Party leaders eagerly point out that the Congress won most of the seats where Rahul had campaigned. The party’s vote share, which was 12% in 2004 and about 8% in the 2007 assembly polls, zoomed to 18% this time.

“Ask anyone in the Congress party anywhere about the single most important factor for the party’s performance in UP and you will get only one reply: Rahul Gandhi,” says Vivek Singh, a ‘young turk’ in the UP Congress.

Rahul’s campaign in UP and its results have inspired the average party worker, who can now think in terms of future victories, like forming a government in UP in the 2012 assembly election.

The party is preparing in that direction in the by-election for one Lok Sabha and 13 Vidhan Sabha seats to be held soon. The Congress had won two of these seats in 2007 (Padrauna and Jhansi). It is confident of retaining both seats, and if it manages a few more seats, it could signal an auspicious start to the party’s ‘Mission UP’.

His father’s son
The Samajwadi Party’s office in Lucknow is, of late, buzzing with activity. Every day at 10am you will find youngsters milling around, discussing the party’s future. One name mentioned often is that of Akhilesh Yadav, the new state unit president. “Youngsters from across the state, from all castes, are coming here in large numbers to meet Akhilesh,” party general secretary Om Prakash Singh said.

Though Mulayam Singh Yadav’s 36-year-old son’s succession appears almost natural, Akhilesh knows it’s not a bed of roses he has inherited. “I have been given this responsibility at a time when we have to fight against the BSP’s misrule, the BJP’s communal politics and the Congress’s challenge,” he says.

Contrary to the perception that the three-time MP was brought in after Rahul Gandhi’s success, Akhilesh’s appointment was cleared during the election itself. Party sources say that apart from Mulayam and Sanjay Dutt, it was Akhilesh whom most party candidates wanted for their campaign. Many MPs told Mulayam that Akhilesh had given them a decisive edge. For the moment, he is not celebrating, but is preparing for his first challenge – the by-election to the 13 assembly seats in UP. The SP much at stake in these byelections as it held six of the seats.

Back to Dalits
The excitement that Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav have generated in UP seems to have angered Mayawati no end. An indication of her ire was on show on Rahul’s birthday (June 19), when she chose to flag off the BSP’s sharam karo (have shame) campaign against the Congress.

“This only shows her frustration,” says Congress spokesman Dwijendra Tripathi. Judging from her reactions, Mayawati appears at her wits’ end. The party’s poor performance in the recent Lok Sabha election was already a bagful of woes for her.

Party sources say Mayawati is reverting to the BSP’s original hardcore Dalit agenda propounded by party founder and her mentor Kanshi Ram. “Manyawar (Respected, a term for Kanshi Ram) would never have approved of experiments like aligning with upper castes, especially Brahmins. Behnji (Sister, a term for Mayawati) chose to disregard that and the results are there for all to see... she seems to be repenting now,” a BSP leader said.

Concerned at the Congress upsurge in UP, Mayawati is concentrating on keeping her Dalit votebank intact. Upper castes are no longer her priority. If party insiders are to be believed, she is now aiming to bolster her votebank by trying to add most backward castes (MBCs). She is aware that the better-off OBCs — Yadavs, Kurmis and Lodhas — are unlikely to back the BSP.

The byelection to 13 assembly seats are likely to test the BSP’s strength. The only consolation for Mayawati is that the BSP held only one of the 13 seats due for byelections.