LOOKING FORWARD, COUNTING BACKWARDS

SAMAJWADI PARTY

- Ashish Misra

On Independence Day, Samajwadi Party (SP) national president Akhilesh Yadav, in an open letter, called upon the country’s citizens to work towards creating a ‘new tomorrow’. He had a more specific message for the people of his own state—build a ‘new Uttar Pradesh’ by voting the SP to power. ‘Baais mein bicycle (Vote for bicycle in 2022),’ wrote Akhilesh, reminding people of the development work in UP under his party’s rule. The two-page letter also laid down a public service code for SP workers, based on ‘Sampark (contact), Samvaad (dialogue), Sahyog (cooperation) and Sahayata (assistance)’. Akhilesh promised ‘Anushasan se shasan (disciplined governance)’ and ended the post with his vision of a ‘reinvented SP riding high on the support of both the young and the old’.

With elections to the 403-member UP assembly just six months away, Akhilesh’s attempt to overhaul his party’s image is timed well. “By talking about governance with discipline, Akhilesh Yadav has tried to change the perception of the SP, especially since rival parties are raising apprehensions about lawlessness and chaos in UP if his party returns to power,” says Brajesh Mishra, associate professor of political science at the Jai Narain Misra College, University of Lucknow. “To take on the BJP at the grassroots, Akhilesh has appealed to party workers to go door to door and help the people. He is trying to evolve a new thinking within the SP.”