Akhilesh grounded

INDIAN politics is no stranger to the rampant abuse of power to settle scores with rivals. The latest example of this high-handedness was witnessed at the Lucknow airport on Tuesday, when Samajwadi Party chief and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav was stopped from taking a private chartered flight to Allahabad (Prayagraj). Yadav was scheduled to attend a students’ union event at Allahabad University. Officials turned back the SP leader, citing the administration’s apprehension of a law and order problem if he were to visit the campus. CM Yogi Adityanath said Yadav’s visit could have triggered violence between student groups, while unconvincingly claiming that the government had acted on the university’s plea. Ironically, violence broke out nonetheless as irate SP workers clashed with the police in Allahabad and other parts of the state.

Quick to back her new-found ally, Mayawati accused the BJP governments at the Centre and in UP of resorting to anti-democratic methods to curb the SP-BSP alliance’s political activities. Yadav also received support from West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee, who said the country had never witnessed such a dangerous situation wherein opposition parties were being barred from holding their programmes. It’s apparently a case of the pot calling the kettle black as the wannabe PM had herself been accused of indulging in ‘chopper politics’ last week. Helicopters carrying Amit Shah, Yogi Adityanath and other BJP stalwarts had been denied permission to land for them to address rallies in West Bengal. Ruling out political interference, Mamata had claimed that the saffron party leaders belatedly sought the go-ahead from the respective district administrations. She even made a counter-allegation that helicopter companies were being forced to cancel bookings by her party (Trinamool Congress) for campaigning.

As the Lok Sabha battle nears, it’s obvious that clipping one’s foe’s wings, literally, is the mantra for the powers that be. It would be no surprise if they use every trick in the book in the coming weeks to fix their enemies. However, as the Yadav episode has shown, such actions can easily boomerang on the oppressors.