Feb.04 : The meandering political farce of the past few weeks has culminated with the expulsion of Amar Singh from the Samajwadi Party. Along with him has been sent packing Jayaprada, the Telugu film actress who sought her political fortunes in Uttar Pradesh with Mr Singh’s help and is a member of the Lok Sabha.
The tiresome drama, which commenced with Mr Singh voluntarily resigning from all party positions (he was its all-powerful general secretary), had begun to produce only vapid soundbites, not a discourse and debate on politics in a state that sends more MPs than any other. These had little to do with politics, ideology, or even factional differences. Mr Singh’s comments drew tantalising attention to personal relationships with party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav and members of his family — son, brother, cousin, to name a few — who occupy key party positions and appeared resentful of the high profile given by Mr Yadav to Mr Singh. The causes of the irrevocable souring of terms were unclear, but the direction of the denouement apparent to all but the naïve. Through all the gossip during Mr Singh’s last days in the SP, no one was quite clear about the reasons for the rise and rise of Mr Singh in the 14 years he has associated himself with Mr Yadav, and his conspicuous success in netting prominent individuals from the worlds of business and entertainment for the SP, until then a regional UP outfit with origins in the Lohia socialist movement and little interest in the cultural field that cinema represents or industrial matters other than the dynamics of sugar production and its impact on farmers.In the past decade and a half, it was also unclear (though speculation, naturally, abounds) why a prominent political figure of the Lohiaite stream with clear antecedents such as Mr Yadav became so closely involved with Mr Singh, an individual with no clear-cut political provenance (although for a time he is reported to have been a member of the AICC, as hundreds are at any given point), but certainly linked to business activity, which included association at the time with a prominent industrial group. These are not ordinarily qualifications that propel people to top slots in our political parties within minutes of arrival. With the passage of time we may find out more about such issues, but there can be little question that Mr Singh’s distancing once again provides that party with an opportunity to return to an ideological focus. Whether it chooses to go that way or not is a different matter, and will be watched with interest. But for a while at least the extant socialist element in the SP appears to have received a boost, especially with the appointment of Mohan Singh, a veteran of “people’s battles” and until recently an MP, as general secretary. In assessing the impact of the expelled Mr Singh on the SP, two myths deserve to be expelled. One, that the SP did not back the Congress on the India-US civil nuclear agreement in 2008, and save UPA-1 from collapse after the Left pullout, under pressure from Mr Singh. Supporting the nuclear deal was the decision of the old socialists in the SP. Two, there has been no dynamics of a socialist-capitalist clash in the SP on account of Mr Singh; indeed, there has been no such clash. The plain truth is that the SP has long ceased to project itself ideologically. Given the rules, Mr Singh and Ms Jayaprada can remain MPs if they don’t resign. But that’s not a crucial issue. Mr Singh has promised to build a new political platform in UP. Its viability is likely to be doubtful.