MSY chooses meek survival over oblivion

Mulayam Singh Yadav has proved that whatever else he may have forgotten with age, he still retains the ability to count.On Saturday morning, the ageing leader of the Samajwadi Party would have started counting the number of leaders, legislators and workers reaching Akhilesh Yadav's residence. And, his heart would have sunk.

It is now clear from reports that nearly 200 MLAs reached the Uttar Pradesh CM’s residence, making Mulayam realise he had been reduced to just a titular head of the party with Shivpal as his only follower. The force, he must have realised, was with his son, that Tipu was the new Sultan.

So, his decision to revoke Akhilesh and Ramgopal Yadav's suspension doesn't come as a surprise. By not continuing a war he was destined to lose, Mulayam has wisely chosen life over self-destruction. Instead of becoming a butt of jokes, ridicule and pity at the wrong end of life, he has chosen surrender and a bit of dignity.

From the very beginning, Akhilesh was destined to win the Dangal of Samajwadi Parivar. Both in the long and short run, victory was meant to be his. Though this sounds filmi, the current brawl within Mulayam Singh Yadav's parivar actually resembled a scene in Aamir Khan's blockbuster Dangal. In that film, Khan wrestles his daughter to teach her a lesson. But midway through the fight, he runs out of breath and is pinned to the ground. Mulayam should have known this: It is not about the mileage, but the age.

Time, indeed, is not by Mulayam's side. He is a stone rolling fast into oblivion. Perhaps his trusted lieutenants Azam Khan and Abu Azzmi have told him some bitter truths … Now that Akhilesh has emerged victorious, the challenge for him would not be how to control the party, its workers and followers. All this is inevitable. The test for Akhilesh now would be to make the most of the situation, use it to his political advantage in the forthcoming Assembly polls.

Now that he is master of his destiny, Akhilesh can set out to do things he always wanted: Strike an alliance with Rahul Gandhi and discard the baggage that comes with his father and cronies like Amar Singh. He can, hopefully, fight the impending Assembly polls the way he wants.

Nobody can predict the outcome of the impending Assembly polls. A year ago, Mayawati seemed to have the upper hand. A few months ago, the BJP was on the ascent, riding high on the goodwill and euphoria of the surgical strike. And a month ago, demonetisation upset all the equations and turned into the only talking point among the electorate…If Modi fails to change the demonetisation narrative, it may turn out to be Modi government's 'India Shining' moment

-BYSandipan Sharma