Yadav feud fallout: Samajwadi leaders start touching the feet of seniors

Ram Manohar Lohia despised the tradition of touching the feet of senior leaders in public.

The infighting in Uttar Pradesh’s ruling Yadav family has ushered in a new tradition in the Samajwadi Party—that of touching the feet of senior leaders. Touching feet, a common practice of seeking the blessings of elders, was, according to SP insiders, disliked by socialist icons Ram Manohar Lohia and Chaudhary Charan Singh, the reason why SP leaders were not allowed to touching the feet of senior leaders in public.

According to a senior SP leader from western UP, touching the feet of senior leaders is being noticed ever since a fight broke out between UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle Shivpal Yadav. “As the party witnessed the formation of two almost rival camps, young leaders from both sides have started touching their seniors’ feet from both sides as a show of loyalty,” he said.

“Lohiaji and other stalwarts of the socialist movement considered the touching of senior politicians’ feet as sycophancy. They discouraged the practice, especially publicly, as in the Assembly, in Parliament, at party functions, etc. The SP has maintained this practice, although there is no official communication on this. But you will not often see SP leaders touching anyone’s feet as we regard all equally,” said a senior SP leader from Lucknow.

However, many SP leaders have been seen touching the feet of Mulayam Singh Yadav recently. Last month, during a party event in Lucknow, former minister Gayatri Prajapti was seen sitting at the feet of the party supremo. He was later seen touching the feet of Akhilesh Yadav as he took oath after being re-inducted in the Cabinet. Similarly, Akhilesh Yadav was seen touching the feet of Mulayam and uncle Shivpal during the party’s silver jubilee function last week.

“There is no punishment for those who touch the feet of senior leaders and seek their blessings. It’s just that such practice is discouraged by our party,” said the SP leader.

He said that touching the feet of senior leader is customary in the Bahujan Samaj Party. “See, almost all BSP leaders are supposed to touch the feet of party chief Mayawati. If they don’t bow to her, they are even shown the door. We are not like BSP,” he said. Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav has declared that his party is not open to any alliances and would opt only for mergers, if needed. Mulayam Singh Yadav’s announcement, coming after a series of meetings with Lalu Prasad Yadav, Sharad Yadav, Ajit Singh and Prashant Kishor, is not entirely surprising. For those who know and understand the politician Mulayam, there was always a sense of scepticism in his recent show of bonhomie towards other political leaders.

The silver jubilee function of the Samajwadi Party, earlier this month, was touted by the media as a showcase of Janata Parivar unity, but closer home, party insiders said that the Janata show was designed to deflect media attention from the bickering within the party and the family. It is another matter that the event became a battleground of war