‘Beti', ‘Bahu', to MP, leader: The evolution of Dimple Yadav
Nearly 16 years later, when women MPs of the NDA on July 28 staged a demonstration over a Delhi-based cleric's remarks against Dimple, the SP MP from Mainpuri shot back with a response of her own. 'It would have been better if they had protested against the Manipur violence, the footage of which appeared on social media. It would have been better had they staged demonstrations and stood with the women of Manipur,' Dimple said.
The cleric had objected to Dimple not covering her head and wearing a sari for her visit to a mosque in New Delhi on July 21, along with other SP leaders. Incidentally, while the NDA rallied its women MPs in her support, the BJP's minority cell sided with the cleric in criticising Dimple on the issue.
Dimple's forceful response to the NDA's backhanded support to her was another example of the 47-year-old SP MP's evolution as a politician in her own right. The change has been increasingly evident since she was picked to contest from the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat held by her father-in-law and SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav after the latter's death. She won the constituency first in a 2022 bypoll, and retained it in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
In fact, in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Dimple conducted a parallel campaign to husband Akhilesh Yadav's across UP – often addressing rallies at the same time in different constituencies. Her presence was particularly prominent in constituencies where the SP had put up women.
Ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, in October 2023, Dimple shared the stage with leaders of other INDIA bloc parties, including senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin, at a Women's Rights Conference held by the DMK in Chennai. It was the first time Dimple had represented the SP at a national-level political event outside UP.
In this Parliament, SP leaders recall how last year Dimple took the lead in demanding that the mic of her party colleague and Sambhal MP Zia Ur Rehman Barq be 'switched on' as he spoke in the House about communal violence in his constituency.
An SP leader said: 'Dimple ji is now confident while addressing the media in the Parliament complex on her own. She does not hesitate in speaking to mediapersons and party workers.'
An SP MP added: 'We consider Dimple ji our leader in the Lok Sabha if Adhyaksh ji (Akhilesh Yadav) is not present. She is the link between us and the party's top leadership.'
During the recent protest of Opposition parties against Bihar's Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, Dimple was one of the leading speakers from the SP's side. Questioning the increase in the BJP's vote share in recent bypolls in Uttar Pradesh she said the Election Commission had turned a blind eye to this 'dacoity of votes'.
According to Juhie Singh, SP spokesperson and national president of the party's women's wing, Dimple played a role – if in the background – even during Akhilesh's tenure as CM in 2012 to 2017. 'Her suggestions were taken to frame policies on women and child welfare, and incorporated into the planning of the 1090 women's helpline. Her idea was to protect women and also empower them. A training programme for anganwadi and ASHA workers was started on her suggestion,' said Singh.
The SP leader quoted above said that the 47-year-old has also taken on a more active role as an MP. 'She stays in touch with SP workers in her constituency and acknowledges them.' When Parliament is not in session, Dimple is mostly in Lucknow or Mainpuri meeting party workers. 'Earlier, she took meetings only of the party's women's wing. But now, she participates in meetings of other wings and of office-bearers,' said another leader.
Having married Akhilesh in 1999, Dimple contested her first election in 2009, a bypoll to the Firozabad Lok Sabha seat, which she lost to actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar of the Congress.
She moved to Kannauj Lok Sabha constituency (vacated by Akhilesh) and won it twice – first in a 2012 bypoll and then in the 2014 general elections. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, however, she lost to the BJP's Subrat Pathak from the seat by over 12,000 votes. Her next contest was from the Mainpuri Lok Sabha seat in the 2022 bypoll, necessitated by Mulayam's death.
BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi said Dimple's only identity continues to be her association with the Mulayam family. 'She gets elected to Parliament because of this and she has no connect to the ground. This is not good for democracy.'
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