UP election: So how did rape accused Prajapati get SP ticket?

Every election throws up unknown figures, or at least those unknown outside their respective States. Soon they start trending nationwide. The ongoing Uttar Pradesh Assembly election too has given the country one such name: Gayatri Prajapati.

A few days ago, this Samajwadi Party candidate from Amethi was seen sobbing among the audience who had come to hear Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav speak. He had been bluntly told that he would not be sharing the stage with the Chief Minister.

This came after the Supreme Court directed the State authorities to register a First Information Report against the serving Minister in a rape case. Shedding tears, he kept repeating, “I am innocent.” Maybe, maybe not. We will know when the probe is completed and the court gives its verdict. Meanwhile, Akhilesh Yadav has thought it better to not be seen in the notorious leader’s company.

This the hypocritical part. The Chief Minister is averse to having Prajapati share the dais with him, and yet he has no problem in having him as a Minister in his Government. Akhilesh Yadav also had no problem in Prajapati getting the party ticket to contest. And the Chief Minister had no problem in campaigning for the tainted candidate. Finally, he had no problem in not directing his authorities to act against Prajapati after the rape allegation had surfaced.

Akhilesh Yadav’s supporters will disagree. They will remind us that the Chief Minister had sacked Prajapati from the Ministry five months ago over allegations of corruption concerning illegal mining. This is true, except that the action had been taken after the Allahabad High Court had rejected the Akhilesh Government’s plea seeking a withdrawal of an order for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the issue. Akhilesh Yadav had no option.

Just as, left with no option, he has sought to distance himself from the Minister after the apex court’s order for a FIR to be filed. The ‘clean’ Chief Minister is answerable on another account: Why was Prajapathi reinstated in the Ministry within two weeks of his sacking, if Akhilesh Yadav had felt strongly enough to dismiss him?

Nothing had changed in the interim period. Indeed, a social activist, Nutan Thakur, had petitioned the State’s Governor against the Samajwadi Party leader’s re-induction, but the Governor’s hand were tied since the name had come from the Chief Minister’s office.

Akhilesh Yadav’s backers will not like to be reminded that their ‘kaam bolta hai’ leader had not just inducted him into the Ministry in early 2013 (although his dubious ways was known even then) as a Minister of State for Irrigation, but also later gave him the mining portfolio. Akhilesh Yadav then discovered something really nice about Prajapati and elevated the junior Minister to the Cabinet rank.

Incidentally, the social activist, Nutan Thakur had several months ago lodged a complaint with the State’s Lokayukta, accusing Prajapati of rampant corruption in connection with illegal sand mining. As far back as September 2015, she and her husband Amitabh Thakur (an IAS officer posted in the State) had publicly alleged harassment by State authorities.

The IAS officer had petitioned the Union Government to institute a CBI inquiry into Prajapati’s activities. Amitabh Thakur had by then been also suspended by the State Government on the premise that he faced charges of sexual harassment — conveniently levelled to match the timing of his wife’s campaign against Prajapati. The squeaky-clean Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav did not lift a finger to get to the truth.

Akhilesh Yadav’s supporters will again jump to his defence and say that those days, the Chief Minister had taken Prajapati in deference to the wishes of his father and party national president, Mulayam Singh Yadav. But Akhilesh Yadav had a major say in ticket distribution, after turning the tables on both his powerful uncle Shivpal Yadav and his father.

How is it that Prajapati got the ticket? With regards to deference to the senior Yadav’s stature, where was that consideration when the Akhilesh camp ousted Mulayam Singh Yadav from the national presidentship and installed the Chief Minister in his place? When the Chief Minister is upset, he can sideline even the party founder, but he cannot sack his Minister or deny him a party ticket!

At least Mulayam Singh Yadav is upfront. He does not give much importance to allegations — even that of rape. And why should he, given that he believes “boys will be boys” and that you can’t “hang them” for rape. Of course, Prajapati is not a boy, though he did cry his heart out like a juvenile caught with his pants down. The Minister did not hide his gratitude as he bend down to touch Mulayam Singh’s feet and made sure the cameras caught him in the act.

Only Akhilesh Yadav’s new friend and comrade-in-arm Rahul Gandhi can match him in hypocrisy. Remember the Imran Masood case. Masood was the Congress candidate from Saharanpur in the 2014 Lok Sabha poll. A video had surfaced of his threatening to cut Narendra Modi to pieces if the latter set foot in the region. The Congress strongly decried the language; Rahul Gandhi refused to have him on the dais; and went on to campaign for him nevertheless. Last year, Masood was made one of the vice presidents of the State party unit.