Uttar Pradesh: Socialism now property of a single family, alleges ex-minister Shatrudra Prakash

VARANASI: After carrying forward the socialist ideology of legendary late Raj Narain for over five decades and staying in Samajwadi Party (SP) since its foundation, former minister and MLC Shatrudra Prakash, who switched over to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on December 31, has claimed that the “word socialism has now become the property of a single family and is stranded in one caste”.
On why he changed his mind at the age of 73 after following socialism since 1967, Prakash said, “The beginning of anti-Congress politics in the country had led to the creation of two political streams — socialism and Jansangh. However, with time, the socialist stream took the shape of monarchy and the position from party president to chief minister went in a single hand. Dynastic system was followed in the ruling family at the time of deciding the successor of the leader.”
“On the other hand, Jan Sangh progress with democratic mindset flourished," said Prakash recalling the era of SP patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav. “Till Mulayam Singhji was dominant in the party he used to care about the self-respect of companion leaders and took their suggestions. But, after the end of his era, the new leadership’s like and dislike changed and grabbing power became the only objective of politics”, said Prakash, adding, “These changes confined socialist politics in the state to a single family and caste.”
“More shocking was generation conflict in ideology and overlooking of legendary socialists like late Raj Narain,” he said, adding, “After Jai Prakash Narain, other big face in the socialist politics was Raj Narain, who rewrote history of electoral politics between 1970 and 1977 and also defeated former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. “
“Raj Narain’s legacy and contributions were always recalled by Mulayam Singhji. But, now the SP leadership does not find time to recall him. Leaders from forward class feel humiliated if they don’t fit with caste equations of the SP leadership,” said Prakash, mentioning that the structure for the running party is also not different in Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Congress as future of all other leaders depends on the mood of the “king or queen of these parties”.
“The reason for ignorance of Varanasi in the regimes of SP and BSP was also casteist, as instead of OBCs and Dalits the forward class is dominant here,” he said, reacting to inclusion of a big band of OBC leaders like Swami Prasad Maurya in SP as a move which will ensure largescale division of OBC votes as other rival parties will also field candidates from the same class and the contest on such seats will become OBC versus OBC.
Prakash, who started his political career as a student leader in Banaras Hindu University and was part of the MSY cabinet in 1989, said, “If the democratic setup of BJP inspired me, the focus of the government on development of Varanasi and east UP region inspired me to join BJP.”
“After 1777, the Kashi Vishwanath temple is witnessing its golden era under BJP rule,” said Prakash, mentioning the Kashi Vishwanath Dham shrine area developed due to the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
”By keeping Varanasi in focus, Modiji initiated all measures that were required for the overall development of this backward area as before him, focus of all previous governments was on developing west UP only”, said Prakash.
He added that not only strengthening infrastructure, including highways and health besides almost all other sectors in east UP region, the crackdown on organised crime and network of mafia dons is also a major achievement of the Yogi government.