Click to play videoNew Delhi: The leader who emerged as the messiah of the backward with his Mandal politics in the 90s, is now back. Former prime minister V P Singh was arrested twice in the last two days by the Uttar Pradesh Police for leading a farmers agitation.
The land of the farmers in Dadri has been usurped by the Mulayam Singh government in UP to set up a power plant that will be run by Reliance Energy boss Anil Ambani.
"It's not me. It's the awakening of the farmer and the joining of forces that has brought out this situation," V P Singh says
Meanwhile, the immediate goal may be to mobilise farmers. But Singh seems to be targeting the UP Assembly Elections scheduled for early next year. And Singh is hoping to gather support from the Left and from disaffected groups within the erstwhile Janata Parivar.
Singh's Man Friday on this occasion is Samajwadi Party rebel MP Raj babbar. And while the Congress has officially kept its distance from Singh, some of his old friends within the Congress are hoping to see the emergence of a grand alliance.
"He has so much of passion that whichever issue he picks up, people pay attention and join hands with him," Waseem Ahmed of the Congress says.
For V P Singh though, reviving past glory won't be easy. The man who helped spur the Mandal movement has now seen leaders like Mulayam Singh and Laloo Yadav emerge as flagbearers of social justice politics. They seem to have left Singh to reach out to the Left and citizens movements as his allies on this occasion.
(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)
More on IBNLive Right Now
TOP NEWS
MOST SHARED
PHOTOGALLERY
