Nur Kushti and Jarding hawa in UP elections
Harvard professor to design SP election campaign
TNN | Sep 19, 2016, 05.42 AM IST
LUCKNOW: After Congress's attempt to reclaim its position in the state through political strategist Prashant Kishor+ , the ruling SP has roped in world-renowned political consultant Steve Jarding of Harvard University to handle the election campaign for its attempt to win a second consecutive term. Jarding, a campaign manager and political consultant for the Democrats in the US, was already advising SP on various issues, but is now officially on board.
Jarding teaches public policy at Harvard Kennedy School. He has been a campaigner, manager, political consultant and strategist since 1980. His clients include US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and former US vice-president Al Gore, and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
On assuming command, the first thing Jarding did was redesign the publicity campaign for the SP government's welfare schemes+ , and actress Vidya Balan was roped in to endorse Samajwadi Pension Yojana. Talking exclusively to TOI in Lucknow, Jarding said: "Samajwadi Pension Scheme has reached far and wide, but the problem is that the beneficiaries don't know whether it is a state scheme or central. So I suggested to the chief minister that the publicity programmes and campaigns be redesigned."
Jarding teaches public policy at Harvard Kennedy School. He has been a campaigner, manager, political consultant and strategist since 1980. His clients include US Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and former US vice-president Al Gore, and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.
On assuming command, the first thing Jarding did was redesign the publicity campaign for the SP government's welfare schemes+ , and actress Vidya Balan was roped in to endorse Samajwadi Pension Yojana. Talking exclusively to TOI in Lucknow, Jarding said: "Samajwadi Pension Scheme has reached far and wide, but the problem is that the beneficiaries don't know whether it is a state scheme or central. So I suggested to the chief minister that the publicity programmes and campaigns be redesigned."
Jarding, who is in the city with his team to finalise the micro-level management of electioneering for SP+ , claimed that CM Akhilesh Yadav had an "impressive connect with the youth + and people in rural areas, who see him as a person dedicated to development".
Talking about his strategy, he said that in UP -India's most populous state -one universal manifesto may not work. He said that the CM has to get feedback from every constituency on what is required at the local level. "For example, non-payment of cane arrears may be an issue in western UP, but it is a non-issue in Bundelkhand. So, he has to draw up different programmes for different regions," he said.
Jarding will also train SP candidates on how to communicate with constituents and address issues. His teams are camping in villages, getting feedback and sending it to the CM's office for urgent redressal. "The chief minister told me to stay in the house of the poorest of poor villagers, live with him for about a week, and then report. So I did, and sent my report. District officials addressed the issues within 24 hours," he added. From his primary survey, and from the feedback given to the CM, a clean image emerges of Akhilesh. "This could be the game-changer," remarked Jarding.
NUR KUSHTI ‘FIXED WRESTLING’ DRAMA IN LUCKNOW: MULAYAM TRANSFERS ASSETS, RETAINS LIABILITIESTuesday, 17 January 2017 5:08 PM
What was threatening to turn into a fratricidal war similar to the battles at Kurukshetra that pitted kith versus kin and led to brothers spilling the blood of brothers for land and power, has ended with a whimper. Perhaps the conspiracy theorists were right — the raging feud in the reigning Yadav clan of Uttar Pradesh was no more than ‘nura kushti’, a fixed match, a pathetic meme of the ‘wrestling’ seen during WWF shows.
If that is indeed true, the months of theatrical denunciations and denouncements indulged in by Mulayam Singh Yadav, his confidant and brother Shiv Pal Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav and his counsellor Ram Gopal Yadav, who too is Mulayam’s brother were a scripted sham.
In heartland politics, or for that matter in politics anywhere else, ‘siddhant’ — principles, or ideals if you wish — are not consequential. If anything, they are on discount. Yet, nothing gives a politician a better makeover than his or her being perceived to have taken a principled stand.
So it could be argued that the ‘nura kushti’ we have been witness to was really to polish Akhilesh’s image, to cut him lose from the baggage that came to define his father Mulayam’s identity politics of utter cynicism, to enable the transfer of assets, including the Samajwadi Party’s electoral symbol, ‘Cycle’, without the liabilities that have accrued over the decades.
Hindus would remember Mulayam Singh Yadav as ‘Mullah Mulayam’, but they would not readily identify Akhilesh Yadav as ‘Mullah Akhilesh’. Muslims who may have considered drifting away from the Samajwadi Party will feel les impulsive to do so. Mulayam has messaged them he still remains their patron and ‘protector’.
And to Akhilesh he has given a list of 38 names — his favourites and loyalists — that should be included in the official list of candidates for the coming State Assembly election. That list does not include Shiv Pal Yadav.
Politics is strange. It often turns out to be no more than the arena of a travelling circus.