‘Riots, reservation and ration cards cost Samajwadi Party dear’

BAREILLY: For Samajwadi Party, it's time to introspect. An outfit which did exceptionally well in 2012 (during assembly elections) had to face the wrath of the same people two years later. Apart from the "Modi factor", three 'R's: riots, reservation and ration cards contributed immensely in the party's debacle in the Lok Sabha elections, feel senior leaders.

The youth, in particular the educated ones, who voted overwhelmingly for a new SP leadership under the foreign-educated Akhilesh Yadav, became its worst critic when the state public service commission introduced the policy of three-tier reservation for OBCs in government jobs. A scenario like the anti-Mandal movement of the 90s gripped the entire state with eastern part being worst affected. At this moment, support for the disgruntled sections of the student community came only from the saffron party, whose leaders even went to jail during the anti-reservation movement in 2013.Talking to TOI, BJP leader Yogesh Shukla, who went to jail after sharing platform with anti-reservationists, said, "For youth who had been lured into the SP fold with doles of laptops, tablets and unemployment allowances, it was the worst nightmare come true. Thanks to the court which intervened and forced the state government to withdraw the controversial decision."

But it wasn't just the general category which drifted away from the SP. Even the OBCs blamed the government for failing to live up to its promise, said Shukla. Commenting on the development, sociologist Ashish Joshi said, "Reservation in government jobs turns best friends into bitter rivals. This time, it was the state government which earned the wrath of the student community from both reserved and general category."

The SP's failure to implement the Food Security Act and its decision to clamp down on preparation of ration cards in the state till the conclusion of parliamentary elections hurt the middle class and poorer sections of the society. This was the period from 2013 onwards when public distribution system of the state came to a grinding halt with no new ration cards being prepared.

While talking to TOI, SP's national general secretary Rewati Raman Singh hesitatingly accepted, "There was a yearning for change among the masses and Modi occupied the centre-stage in this paradigm shift in the mind of voters. But this does not mean that our government faltered on any front."

As regards to the three 'R's, he said, "It was the saffron party and its frontal organizations which fomented communal trouble and we acted with alacrity in controlling it. On the issue of preparation of ration cards and implementation of Food Security Act, the central government was not willing to shoulder the responsibility of providing funds. Moreover, there was no categorization of people living below poverty line. But one must also realize that we were the first to waive the irrigation tax on farmers in the state and provided them uninterrupted supply of fertilizers and manure round-the-year from 2012."

The party's affair with misgovernance and maladministration started immediately after it came to power in Uttar Pradesh in 2012 with a communally sensitive city like Bareilly, which had witnessed one of the worst riots in 2010, becoming home to another round of communal clashes that year. This was apart from the claims of opposition parties that in UP, more than 100 riots took place within the two years of SP rule.

However, it were the Muzaffarnagar riots which clearly divided the voters on religious lines as it became fairly evident that SP failed to preserve the communal fabric of the state, said senior Congress leader Kishore Varshney.