Holi festivities in Saifai, the native village of Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav, witnessed the warring uncle and nephew, Shivpal Singh Yadav and party president Akhilesh Yadav, share the dais after a long time.
Both the leaders attended the Holi function on Monday.
Akhilesh touched the feet of his uncle Shivpal Yadav and took his blessings. The SP chief and former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh also restrained his and his uncle’s supporters from raising slogans. Mulayam Singh Yadav was also present on the dais.
The bonhomie was, however, only skin deep as Akhilesh expressed his displeasure over the slogans raised praising him and his uncle.
Enthused by the bonhomie between uncle and nephew, the local villagers and the party cadre raised slogans hailing the coming together of the estranged family members. They raised slogans of Jai Akhilesh-Jai Shivpal.
Akhilesh however restrained the cadre and asked them to stop raising slogans. He said if they continued to raise such slogans then next time he would not come to Etawah to celebrate Holi.
“This is the time for Holi festivities... politics should be kept out of it... such sloganeering spoils the atmosphere and creates distance... things should be changed, otherwise they will only weaken us,” Akhilesh said and added, “We need to think about the future and move ahead... I take a decision only after giving it a proper consideration and not under anyone’s influence.
Akhilesh added that if slogans had to be raised, they should be in favour of the ‘cycle’, the SP symbol.
Shivpal, who has formed a new political outfit, the Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia), touched the feet of his elder brother Mulayam Singh Yadav and then wished others, including Akhilesh.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, Shivpal had contested from Firozabad, leading to the defeat of his nephew Akshay, son of Ram Gopal Yadav, and enabling Bharatiya Janata Party to win the seat.
Shivpal and Akhilesh have been involved in a bitter feud in the party since 2016.
On the occasion, Shivpal said, “Festivals are more fun if people have love for each other in their hearts. In villages, people give importance to trivial issues that create animosity and the clever people take the advantage...people need to sit, talk and remove the misunderstandings... this will not give an opportunity to others to take advantage of the situation... people need to forget their differences on Holi.”
Though senior party leader Ram Gopal Yadav, a confidant of Akhilesh, was not on the dais, other members of the Yadav family, including MPs Dharmendra Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav, were present.
The Yadav family celebrates Holi in Saifai every year with SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav joining family members, villagers, party workers, supporters and friends in the festivities. Shivpal Yadav had not taken part in the Holi festivities at Saifai last year and celebrated the occasion with his supporters at his Etawah residence instead.
The members of the extended Yadav family played Holi with flowers this year in view of the coronavirus threat.