‘Appeasement politics’ kept Akhilesh from paying last respects to Kalyan Singh, say BJP leaders

The criticism was first made by BJP MP from Kannauj Subrat Pathak on Monday, when he said had Mulayam and Akhilesh attended Singh’s tribute ceremony in Lucknow, they would have gotten a last chance to “absolve” themselves of the “sin” they had committed when Mulayam had called for firing on karsevaks in Ayodhya in 1990. He had even said it reflected the SP chief and patriarch’s “Talibani” mentality.

On Tuesday, BJP UP chief Swatantra Dev Singh, deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya as well as MP from Unnao Sakshi Maharaj upped the heat in cornering Yadav over his absence, suggesting it was his “appeasement” politics that kept him from paying his last respects to the leader who is most remembered for his role in the Ramjanmbhoomi movement, especially for galvanising the non-Yadav OBCs in its favour.

“Akhilesh ji could not travel 1 kilometre from his house to pay his last respects to babuji. Is it the attachment to the Muslim vote bank that stopped him from giving his tribute to the most important leader of the backward classes?” the UP BJP chief said.

Sakshi Maharaj said while Yadav claims to represent OBCs and his politics is also derived from them, it was “condemnable” and “worrying” that he would forget such ethical values considered important in politics, for “appeasement”.

“Mayawati emerged better than him, as she came and paid her homage,” said the MP. He also slammed the Congress for the same.

SP sources said Yadav had left for Saifai on Friday to celebrate Rakshabandhan and returned only on Sunday while Kalyan Singh passed away on Saturday. While he had condoled his demise on Twitter, he had also given a call to Singh’s son, Rajveer Singh, who is also known to be close to Akhilesh and had also helped Dimple Yadav when she was contesting for MP from Kannauj. He may visit his house later, said the source.

Rajeev Rai, national secretary and spokesperson of SP told ET, “We have immense respect for Kalyan Singh but we will not be a part of this marketing event that BJP has conducted after choosing to not include him in the Ram temple bhoomi pujan celebrations and sidelining him when he was alive. Rai said, had it not been an election year, even Narendra Modi and Amit Shah had not come down to pay their tributes.”

Other SP leaders like IP Singh and Pawan Pandey have also been highlighting the phase when Singh had quit the party over differences, as well as his absence from the Ram temple bhoomi pujan last year.

In a rebuttal to Maurya on Tuesday, Pandey said, “This is the same BJP that evicted the late Kalyan Singh, kept him out of the temple trust as he was from a backward caste and also did not include him or other backward castes leaders in the bhoomi pujan. The BJP should first have a good look at its own party before pointing fingers at others,” he said.

Some political watchers however say while Mulayam Singh’s absence can be reconciled with, given his age, Akhilesh may have committed a political “gaffe” by choosing to give the event a miss.

“Akhilesh could have come to pay his respects when Kalyan Singh’s mortal remains were placed in the Vidhan Sabha for a brief period as it is a neutral venue, even if he felt hesitant to visit his house or the BJP office,” Ratan Mani Lal, senior journalist and political analyst told ET. “Even if he was away, it is expected on such occasions for rivals to turn up. It is the done thing. Also, such optics matter in politics,” Lal said.