With an eye on Thakur votes, the Samajwadi Party will be observing the fourth death anniversary of former Prime Minister, late Chandra Shekhar, on July 8 in a big way across the state. Samajwadi Party state president Akhilesh Yadav had asked all district and city units of the party to hold shradhanjali sabha at all district headquarters on July
8 and pay tributes to the late leader. This is the first time that the Samajwadi Party will be remembering the contribution of late Chandra Shekhar on this scale.
The party, apparently, wants to woo Thakurs and repair the damage that may have been caused with the exit of Mr Amar Singh from the party.
Chandra Shekhar has been one of the tallest and most-respected leaders from Uttar Pradesh and though he never indulged in caste politics, he was the undisputed leader of the Thakur community. By attempting to immortalise his memory, the Samajwadis want to reach out to Thakurs and win them over for the upcoming Assembly elections.
The party, for this campaign, has chosen Independent MLA Raghuraj Pratap Singh a.k.a. Raja Bhaiyya who is looked upon as a youth icon among Thakurs.
The main programme on July 8 will be held in Lucknow where the chief guest will be Raja Bhaiyya. Incidentally, the former Prime Minister’s son, Neeraj Shekhar, is a Samajwadi Party MP but he has not been given the responsibility of hosting his father’s anniversary functions because Mr Shekhar has yet to develop himself as youth icon among Thakurs.
The choice of Raja Bhaiyya, party sources said, was deliberate because he has been victimised twice by the Mayawati government. In 2002, he was sent to jail for 19 months under Pota and last year, he was jailed again for four months by the BSP government.
“Raja Bhaiyya’s constant victimisation by the BSP government has earned him the sympathies of the Thakur community,” said a senior SP leader. His presence will help the Samajwadi Party is pitting Thakurs against the Mayawati government in the next elections. If Chandra Shekhar was eulogized by the older Thakur generations, Raja Bhaiyya symbolizes the younger generations in the community,” said a senior SP leader.
A senior SP leader said, “Chandra Shekharji was not a member of our party but he was a true Socialist.”