House for all seasons

Are the Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav and the BSP chief Mayawati  so destitute that they can no longer afford to own or rent a house to stayIJ As the Supreme Court order, asking six former UP Chief Ministers to vacate their government accommodation, closes in, Akhilesh has sought two years extension from the Uttar Pradesh government. Meanwhile BSP chief Mayawati has converted her official residence into “Kanshiram Yadgar Vishram Sthal,” as per the well-known template of institutionalising the home of a national leader as a memorial.

Ostensibly she is moving to a house opposite but clearly is hoping to hold sway on a property which she has done up her way. Akhilesh’s excuse that he did not find any house in lucknow, which would spatially resolve his need for a Z-plus security cover, is equally flimsy. This sense of entitlement while out of office is most undemocratic in spirit as it involves public funds which should not be stretched. Morally too, it makes both look like blatant land-grabbers, something they can ill-afford when it comes to spearheading the Opposition reunification drive. Perhaps more than accretion of property, the SP and BSP, who hope to unite electorally for 2019, should concentrate on adding the numbers on the ground.