On 28 April, a demolition squad of the Lucknow Development Authority (LDA), along with a contingent of police personnel, swooped on a double storied complex with an 8,000 square feet basement and began demolishing it.

The structure was owned by a Samajwadi Party legislator from Biswan in Sitapur district, Rampal Yadav. When the legislator tried to act tough, he was beaten up and arrested for threatening the policemen.

The cops’ behavior was as unusual and also that of the LDA officials. Usually, they handle the ruling party maananiyas (honourable) legislators with kid gloves even if they commit a murder.

It took the LDA’s bulldozers 15 hours to raze the illegal structure in Jiamau, less than a kilometer away from the official residence of chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. The illegal structure had taken almost 15 months to build but in all those months the LDA did not find anything illegal about it.

Another squad got into the task of demolishing his son Jitendra Yadav’s hotel in Sitapur. Spread over 30,000 square feet and, because of its size, it took the authorities some days to completely demolish it.

Action against Rampal did not stop here. He was also expelled from the party. The financial loss to the legislator was estimated to be worth more than Rs 4 crore, but that is inconsequential.

One would probably ask why the LDA and the district administration woke up one fine morning and strike at Rampal with a never-seen-before vengeance. There are many illegal activities being carried out in the state capital. However, despite the Allahabad High Court’s orders LDA maintains a benign attitude towards them.

According to Rampal Yadav’s version, he incurred the wrath of the Family, for that is what the Samajwadi Party has been reduced to in the state, for defying the party’s diktat in panchayat polls. Rampal had fielded his son and daughter in the panchayat elections against the orders of his party leaders. What rubbed salt in the party bosses’ wounds was that the siblings trounced the official candidates of the party.

Although the Samajwadi Party registered a resounding victory in the panchayat elections, the party lost to rebels in several places. These rebels did face the music, but not like the one meted out to Rampal. The other rebels were lucky to get away with suspensions and expulsion.

In fact Sitapur was one place where the party faced open rebellion leading to the dissolution of the district executive unit and removal of the district chief Shamim Kausar.

Besides, Mahendra Singh alias Jheen Babu, Anoop Kumar, Radhey Shyam Jaiswal and Manish Rawat, all legislators, were suspended. An inquiry was also ordered against them. It remains to be seen if they meet the same fate as Rampal.

The party, everyone was told, would not tolerate any illegal activity (other than those indulged in by those at the helm, of course) but yet that could not explain the timing of its action against Rampal.

Handing down severe punishment, however, is the style of Samajwadi Party’s functioning, and it is not restricted to members of the party alone. The case of IPS officer Amitabh Thakur is still fresh in memory. Somebody who sounded like Mulayam Singh Yadav, the SP chief, did threaten the IG-rank officer because his wife was trying to make life difficult for mining Minister Gayatri Prajapati. As a warning, the officer was reminded of an earlier incident in which he was said to have been beaten up allegedly by Samajwadi Party workers.

Rampal may not be a paragon of virtue but he raised an important point when he said that the Samajwadi Party has nothing to do with samajwad (socialism). Now, it is all about parivaarvaad (dynasty).