Mulayam Singh Yadav has threatened enough
There is a limit to which politicians can use harsh language as a means of successful posturing. Beyond that limit, statements lose heft and are likely to be taken not just lightly but also contemptuously by those that are the targets. Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav is fast becoming one such politician whose scathing remarks against the Congress don't even lead to Congressmen skipping a beat. This is because he has not shown any inclination to walk the talk. He has been ranting endlessly against the Congress that depends hugely on his support to survive in power; he has been cautioning the party for ages not to take his goodwill for granted; he has been claiming ad nauseam that the Congress is arrogant and does not know how to manage coalitions. And yet, he has ended up supporting the Congress-ruled UPA in every single moment of crisis. Therefore, it is difficult to read much into Mr Yadav's latest swipe that the Congress has cheated people by crafting schemes on the eve of elections to win their votes. That the Congress has always played the dubious populist card, either through communal appeasement or through harebrained socialist projects, to secure votes, is not a secret. But Mr Yadav must tell the people why he continues to support the Congress despite the latter’s shenanigans. The reasoning, that he does so to keep ‘communal forces' (read BJP) at bay, is worn-out and lacks conviction. After all, BJP-ruled States continue to flourish without any danger to communal harmony. If Mr Yadav feels so strongly about the Congress that he is compelled to issue stinging public statements against it, nothing should stop him from pulling the plug. Whatever the reasons are behind his tough-now-soft-then approach, the fact is that his remarks are losing credibility. Only recently, he had to suffer humiliation after senior Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma called him a thief and a protector of terrorists. The Samajwadi Party reacted furiously and demanded the Minister's scalp. But Mr Verma is still in the Cabinet and the SP has gone silent. A few days after that remark, the Minister said that the Samajwadi Party had become a ‘parivarwadi party' — an apparent reference to the important positions that Mr Yadav's family members hold in the SP. Again, Mr Yadav swallowed the insult.
Mr Yadav has to demonstrate courage of conviction. If he indeed believes that continuing support to the Congress-led regime is akin to backing an anti-people Government, and if he knows that the Congress has been using state agencies like the Central Bureau of Investigation against political parties such as his to keep them in line, he must withdraw support to the Government. After all, the Samajwadi Party is far better placed than the Congress is in Uttar Pradesh. It is not dependent on the Congress for its survival; it's the other way around. On the other hand, if the SP continues to dither over the issue, it risks losing further credibility. Besides, it enhances the perception that Mr Yadav is indeed terrified of the Congress's backlash. The Congress and the UPA Government which it leads, as Mr Yadav has himself acknowledged, is losing steam. The SP chief must decide now, and not when it's too late.