New Delhi, March 6: Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) president Mayawati stole a march over the BJP and the Congress on the Raja Bhaiya issue.
The two “mainline” parties reacted belatedly to the alleged involvement of Kunda MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh alias Raja Bhaiya in the assassination of Uttar Pradesh DSP Zia-ul-Haque. Their responses showed they were noticeably on the back foot.
Mayawati was quick off the block to demand Singh’s arrest and dismissal of the Akhilesh Yadav government for its law and order handling. After the BSP kicked up a shindy in Parliament, the Uttar Pradesh chief minister and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav coaxed Singh’s resignation from the cabinet.
Mayawati’s political aide and Rajya Sabha MP Satish Chandra Mishra urged the Rajya Sabha chairperson today to direct the House to observe silence over Haque’s “martyrdom”, but he was told that the rules did not allow such gestures.
Yesterday, the Uttar Pradesh Congress announced that if Raja Bhaiya were not arrested within 15 days, its leaders would hold a protest march from Lucknow to Kunda.
The BJP was more laid back. “It’s a law and order issue. The situation has badly deteriorated under the BSP and Samajwadi Party governments. People are looking at the BJP as an option in Uttar Pradesh,” said a state leader.
The Congress and the BJP were circumspect for a number of reasons, said sources in both the parties. The Congress relies on the Samajwadi’s support for the UPA to complete its remaining tenure.
With a Thakur, Rajnath Singh, who comes from the same caste as Raja Bhaiya, BJP sources admitted that aggression was the last thing they expected.
Sources said the Congress and the BJP were eyeing the upper caste votes that migrated to the Samajwadi in the last Assembly elections because the voters wanted Mayawati out.
“But, they are thoroughly disillusioned with Akhilesh for his bad administration and the increase in crimes,” a BJP MP from Uttar Pradesh said, but refused to say if Raja Bhaiya had become a symbol for all that was going wrong in the state.
The BJP’s reluctance to take a stand on Raja Bhaiya goes back a long way. Rajnath, said sources, had a “soft spot” for Raja Bhaiya and was instrumental in inducting him as a minister in the Kalyan Singh government in 1997 with an eye on the Thakur votes. Once the BJP-BSP alliance had snapped, Raja Bhaiya repaid Rajnath for his “good deed” by aiding a split in the BSP and getting votes for the BJP, a working majority in the Assembly.
The wheel turned a circle when in 2002 Mayawati had Raja Bhaiya locked up under Prevention of Terrorism Act (Pota) for allegedly instigating violence in a local election. Her government was then propped up by the BJP.
Rajnath was reportedly furious with Mayawati and began egging the BJP’s central leaders to withdraw support to her government. The BJP eventually did it in 2003. By then Raja Bhaiya had cosied up to another Thakur, Amar Singh, who was then Mulayam’s closest political confidant. He helped Mulayam form a government in Uttar Pradesh for which he was rewarded with a ministerial berth.
In the 2012 Assembly elections, Raja Bhaiya stayed an Independent, but actively campaigned for the Samajwadi in the Thakur strongholds.
This time, the BJP can’t yet assess what will fetch for it political dividends: tacit backing for Raja Bhaiya or an all-out war against bad law and order that would include condemning the recent episode.
