The decision of the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government to honour Samajwadi Party (SP) founder and former Uttar Pradesh (UP) Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav with India’s second-highest civilian award, Padma Vibhushan, has brought the Opposition on the backfoot.
If it were to be believed that this was Modi’s way of stumping the Opposition well before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, then it can be safely assumed that none could have seen this coming.
The objective behind the move is to not simply send the message about Modi’s large-heartedness but to also forge a divide among SP’s ardent Yadav and Muslim followers. There can be no denying that the right-of-centre Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) regime led by a Hindutva icon chose to shower such a high honour on a leader of a diametrically opposite political ideology.
Yet, why did the Modi-led government not consider Mulayam Singh Yadav for this honour during his lifetime? If the award is given posthumously to the SP stalwart ostensibly for his contribution to Indian polity, why was he not considered for the same during his lifetime?
While Modi has succeeded in making inroads among the non-Yadav OBCs voters — once dominated by the SP — this was an attempt to woo Yadavs as well.
As if to kill two birds with one stone, this could also be aimed at fuelling suspicion among Muslims about Akhilesh Yadav’s commitment towards the minority community. With Akhilesh Yadav already shying away from raising his voice against the targeting of Muslims, a Padma award for Mulayam Singh Yadav by the BJP-led NDA government could lead Muslims to speculate on the possibility of an underhand deal between the SP and the BJP. This speculation could further cement Modi’s overt wooing of the Pasmanda Muslims, who had already begun to tilt towards the ruling BJP.
The government’s decision to honour Mulayam Singh Yadav cannot be attributed to its objectivity in selecting awardees. Modi rarely does anything without assessing its political impact. Given this, it is safe to assume that winning over the Yadav vote bank is likely to have been the rationale behind this decision too.
Even if this move does not convert into substantial electoral gains for the BJP in UP, a small dent in SP’s Yadav vote share would serve its purpose. In the 2019 general elections, the BJP won 62 of the 80 seats from Uttar Pradesh, and for the national party, it is crucial to improve its seat count in UP because it could be losing several of its current seats in other states.
It cannot be ignored that in his last few years, Mulayam Singh Yadav was seen as somewhat soft towards the BJP. This was evident when he went out of his way to wish Modi a second term as Prime Minister while speaking on the floor of Parliament just before the 2019 general elections.
A Padma Vibhushan to Mulayam Singh Yadav is part of a larger political tableau. Padma awards have been used as political currency. Such a charge gains strength when the Modi government awards the Padma Vibhushan to former Union minister and former Chief Minister of Karnataka SM Krishna. Call it sheer coincidence, but Karnataka goes to the polls in a month or two, and bestowing the second-highest civilian award to a widely respected leader from the state could save the incumbent BJP government the losses that it is feared to suffer on account of acute anti-incumbency.
Awarding Mulayam Singh Yadav the Padma Vibhushan could weaken the Opposition’s attempt to stay united against the ruling party. This has also created a stir among the OBCs, with one section hailing the government for showing magnanimity towards Mulayam Singh Yadav, while another section raising the demand that the SP founder be awarded the Bharat Ratna. ‘Why can’t an OBC be conferred the Bharat Ratna; most awardees, so far, have been upper caste Brahmins’, is the argument of the latter section.
Given this, wouldn’t it be right to say that Modi has put the Opposition camp in a tight corner?
(Sharat Pradhan is a Lucknow-based journalist and author.)
(The views expressed are the author's own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.)