By the Editor: Siddharth Sehgal

There is a Samajwadi Party (SP) joke that goes something like this, a man goes to their party headquarters in Lucknow and requests to join the party. A receptionist in the lobby directs him to a room on the first floor where he is greeted by a fierce looking man in kurta-pyjama. The applicant gets an uneasy feeling about him but still try to express his interest in joining SP as cheerfully as he can.

Applicant: “Sir, I want to join the party and serve people”

SP interviewer: “That’s very good, we need people after all, you can fill this form with your contact detail after which I’ll ask few questions to assess your candidacy then if you seem to be a good fit for us you can join the party after paying the application fee which can be Rs. 5 or Rs. 1000”

Applicant: ”5 Rs make sense but why 1000?”

SP interviewer, with a smile: “You’ll come to know.”

SP interviewer: “Are you from minority, SC, ST or OBC category?”

Applicant: “No”

SP interviewer: “Is your last name Yadav by any chance?”

Applicant: “No”

SP interviewer: “Have you ever been involved or convicted in a scam?”

Applicant: “No”

SP interviewer: “Have you ever been involved or convicted in a fight, riot or robbery of or above RS.400?”

Applicant: “No”

SP interviewer: ”Have you been to jail?”

Applicant: “No, I haven’t even entered a police station forget the jail”

 Listening this, SP interviewer opened the drawer, took out a gun, pointed it at the applicant and said, “it will be 1000 Rs, to get out of here”.

 This joke tells the irony of the state of affairs in Uttar Pradesh. The whole population is held hostage to the mismanagement, corruption and literal looting of Samajwadi Party and we can only hope that this time the choice of the people wouldn’t be as bad as the incumbent one. Let’s be honest, there are no good choices, you cannot be an honest man and survive in UP politics for that matter in any politics. It’s not about even contesting in elections, if you are what we say “clean” and a popular candidate; get a bullet proof vest first, ballot may be later.

 The family drama that’s being played out in full public view clearly signifies how the taste of power father turns against son, uncle against nephew, brother against brother. Despite BJP trying its best they don’t have a candidate strong enough to pull votes. Like before, the caste equation will come into play. People mainly from rural backgrounds will be persuaded by false promises of jobs, reservation, cast solidarity and some free handouts. Congress don’t stand a chance and BSP is just one notch down from SP in the sense that they won’t pull the gun at you.

 A sincere candidate or party should spend time making people aware about good governance, issues related to joblessness, lawlessness, lack of development, empowerment of women, children education and progress. The goal should be long term not just Loksabha or Rajyasabha elections every five years. As far as family drama of Netaji is concerned its realistic reflection of an unrealistic sas-bahu serials that comes on cable TV and lets only hope this one doesn’t stretches for another season.