Modi brings Mulayam and Mayawati together after 25 years

History was created on Friday when bitter political rivals in the state for the past quarter century, Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav and Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati, shared a dais for the first time in 25 years on Friday.

The joint rally at Mainpuri, Yadav senior’s home turf, was electrifying and both Mayawati and Mulayam Singh Yadav graciously praised each other in their address. Mulayam Singh Yadav is contesting the election as the joint candidate of the SP-BSP alliance on Samajwadi Party’s ticket.

“Whenever I needed help, Mayawati Ji helped us. I am happy that Mayawati Ji has come and attended this rally,” Mulayam Singh said in his short address which he concluded by asking people to vote for him.

Mayawati said Mulayam Singh Yadav was a true Backward leader and is not a `fake’ backward like Modi. “Mulayam Singh has built his party by accommodating people of all castes and gave them representation in the party like a true leader,” she said.

Mayawati and Mulayam Singh praising each other was unthinkable in Uttar Pradesh. The two had been bitter political enemies and in the past had lost no opportunity to attack each other. Mulayam Singh had famously called Mayawati as `Daulat Ki Beti’ to counter Mayawati’s claim of how SP workers had tried to kill a `Dalit Ki Beti’ in a reference to the well known Guesthouse incident when a section of SP workers had allegedly tried to kill her, she claimed.

Twenty-five years down the line the situation is very different. Mayawati sharing stage with Mulayam Singh could prove to be a game changer in UP politics and will help both the parties to convert caste arithmetic into votes and enthuse party workers to work collectively with coordination between both the parties. This event assumes more importance because the the long-drawn election now rolls down to central UP, known as Yadav land where Yadavs and Dalits have not generally voted for the same candidate.

But whenever Hindutva has reared its head in the state and made the BJP strong, the coalition of Dalit and Backward castes and classes have come together to check BJP’s march.

This happened in 1993 when BSP and SP stitched an alliance for the assembly election when BJP was gaining grounds riding on Ram Temple movement wave. The Babri Mosque at Ayodhya was demolished on December 6, 1992 and in 1993 fresh elections were called following the resignation of the then Chief Minister of UP Kalyan Singh. That time Mulayam Singh Yadav, father of Akhilesh Yadav and Kanshi Ram, political mentor of Mayawati, were the architects of the alliance. The alliance won the election in Uttar Pradesh as it successfully thwarted BJP’s Hinduava march in this politically sensitive state..

The alliance, however, did not last long and ended abruptly in 1995 after the infamous guest house incident when SP workers misbehaved with Mayawati. They abused her and allegedly beat her up. Mayawati claimed that a murderous attack was carried out on her. “The Samajwadi Party goons tried to kill me,” she had alleged.

The incident made two parties arch rivals and the gulf widened deep down to the village level where SP and BSP workers clashed with each other at the slightest provocation.

However, 25 years later both the parties have decided to bury the hatchet.

"In the interest of the country I have erased the bad memories of the guesthouse incident. People are upset with the anti-people policies of the Modi government. We have come together to stop Modi’s march,” Mayawati declared in Mainpuri.