SP loses moral right to govern Uttar Pradesh
While it can be debated whether it was appropriate for the United Nations and countries such as the United States to wade into the rape row that has engulfed the Akhilesh Yadav Government in Uttar Pradesh, there are no two opinions that the spurt in crimes against women in the State and the outrageous defence senior leaders of the ruling Samajwadi Party have been giving, have seriously damaged the image of both the party and the State regime. Mr Akhilesh Yadav has lost the plot and governance has gone into an auto-pilot mode. The least that one would have expected in this situation is reassuring words from the Chief Minister — backed by suitable action. On the contrary, Mr Akhilesh Yadav has adopted a cavalier attitude. While he has shunted out a handful of bureaucrats following the nationwide outrage, the move is too little and come too late. That these were cosmetic measures became clear when he and senior party leaders (incidentally belonging to his family) let loose a slew of statements that betrayed both their mindset and lack of intent. While the Chief Minister tried to play down the series of incidents of rape in his State by claiming that a Google search would reveal that rapes were happening all over the country (and the world), his father and party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav contemptuously brushed aside media criticism and smirked that the media can continue to do its ‘job’. As if this was not enough, the Chief Minister's uncle and senior party leader Ram Gopal Yadav blamed not just the media, but also films, television and everybody else — except the creaking law and order machinery of Uttar Pradesh ruled by his party.
While the collapse of administration is shocking, it does not come as a surprise for two reasons. The first is related to the very attitude of SP leaders like Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav, who had in recent months played down incidents of rape by saying that “boys will be boys”, that they can make “mistakes”, and that they don't deserve death for such “mistakes”. He said this in the backdrop of the conviction of certain repeat rapists in a Mumbai case. The second reason has to do with the terrible track record of the Samajwadi Party whenever it has been in power. The term, goonda raj, came in vogue along with the party's earlier regime when Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav was the Chief Minister. A bunch of SP leaders had then run amock with their rackets of extortion and land grab, besides having resorted to other crimes, with the senior Mr Yadav indulgently watching by. It provided the ideal platform for Ms Mayawati and her Bahujan Samaj Party to make a comeback in the State. It is in this backdrop that Mr Akhilesh Yadav, after taking charge on the strength of a decisive mandate the people gave his party, ousting Ms Mayawati, had assured that law and order would be his priority and that the people would not be subjected to another nightmare. He has miserably failed to live up to the promise.