For Akhilesh Yadav, the Honeymoon is Over

Fresh off the heels of a Mayawati-led administration beleaguered by accusations of corruption and mismanagement, Akhilesh Yadav's ascension to power earlier this year in Uttar Pradesh was accompanied by a wave of optimism.

Mr. Yadav, 39, the youngest chief minister of India's most populous state, was embraced as the face of India's new bench of politicians, intent on transparency and comfortable with technology. Now, just six months later, Mr. Yadav's government is mired in many of the same accusations that plagued both his predecessor and his father, Mulayam Singh Yadav, who ran the state before Mayawati.

Most recently, the anti-corruption activist Arvind Kejriwal accused the state's law minister of running a fake charity, and the state's minister of medical health and family welfare was accused of kidnapping a chief medical officer for extorti on. Last month, a state lawyer said he was kidnapped to prevent him from running for a state seat in the lower house of Parliament that was won, uncontested, by Mr. Yadav's wife, Dimple.

Mr. Yadav met with India Ink late on a Sunday morning in an office at the chief minister's residence in Lucknow last month, to discuss some of the criticism that had been leveled at his administration and his plans for the state's future.

The chief minister's official residence in Lucknow is a “Scarface”-like mansion guarded by tall walls and security forces, and in September it was still in the process of being redecorated from the inside out, to suit the tastes of its new resident family. The style seemed to be a mix of the most futuristic thing ever seen in this part of India, and a 1970s-era airport lounge.

Perhaps it's an appropriate setting for the most visible family of Uttar Pradesh, a state with grand ambitions for the future, tempe red by frustrating limitations created by the debts of its past.

“What I know about politics today I learned from my family,” Mr. Yadav began, after settling into a red wing-backed chair in his spacious, light-filled office. “It's been an advantage for me.”

Beside him was an empty red chair for his wife, who took the oath as a member of Lok Sabha in August. She met him halfway through the interview.

It's unquestionable that Mr. Yadav's family name was an advantage in his political career. He received his master's in environmental engineering from the University of Sydney, but he came into politics by mandate of his Samajwadi Party, since nothing sells in Indian politics like a name brand. His father served three terms as the state's chief minister. Numerous uncles and cousins hold or have held posts in various Uttar Pradesh administrations, including this one. More than anything else, politics is a Yadav family tradition.

But in the first six months of his term, Mr. Yadav's family name seems to have done the young leader as much harm as good. One of the most significant and fundamental criticisms he faces is that his father pulls the strings behind his back.

“People say I work under my father, that I'm working under his shadow,” Mr. Yadav acknowledged.

“It's true I take advice from senior leadership,” he said. “But the decisions I make, in my own mind and my heart.”

His wife's uncontested election to the Lok Sabha became the source of local scandal in September when it was challenged in the Allahabad High Court by a man who said that activists of the Samajwadi Party kidnapped him to prevent him from contesting the seat.

And Shivpal Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav's uncle, and the current head of the state's Public Works Department, was filmed saying that the advice he gives to his subordinates is “if you work hard, then you can steal a little,” a statement that for obvious reasons dr ew sharp rebukes from the press, the public and the chief minister's political opponents.

In defense of his uncle, Mr. Yadav politely asked for permission to speak in Hindi. He then contended that his uncle was misheard. He delineated the difference between the word chori, which means stealing, and kamchori, which means playing truant, a distinction that implies his uncle meant to advocate taking off from work instead of stealing.

“I can assure you of this: In U.P., we want to reduce corruption,” Mr. Yadav said. “I have made my point very clear with ministers - if you indulge in corruption, you'll be punished.”

He went on to make a promise: “In time,” he said, “I will reduce corruption.”

One of the chief complaints against Mr. Yadav's fledgling administration is a spike in the violent crime rate in the state. His predecessor, Mayawati, who goes by one name, and her Bahujan Samaj Party, or B.S.P., rose to power in no small part because of her perceived toughness on crime. The state has been long dogged by problems with gangs and dacoity in its rural villages, issues that have been recently dramatized in popular Hindi films like “Ishaqzaade.”

Only a month after Mr. Yadav took office in April, the leader of the opposition in the state assembly, Swami Prasad Maurya, said, “People have started remembering the good days of B.S.P.'s rule of law.” Soon after, The Times of India latched on to this critique, pointing out that 699 murders had been committed during Mr. Yadav's first 45 days in office, as well as 263 rapes.

India's National Crime Records Bureau will not publish its annual study for 2012 for many months, and the bureau's statistical officer, R.B. Singh, said he could not verify those numbers. Based upon the total number of murders in Uttar Pradesh in 2011, which was 4,951, or roughly 13.5 per day, Mr. Singh indicated that the figure of 699 in 45 days represented a slight increase to 15.3 per day. The figure is too small of a sample size to determine whether the rate of murders was really on the rise during Mr. Yadav's first year in office, he said.

Mr. Yadav said that those figures represent a lag from his predecessor's administration, and that more is being done to keep law and order. “It took us time to settle,” he said. “The people who were holding those posts were from the previous government. I've removed them. We have to increase good officers; we'll be able to solve these law and order issues.”

When Mrs. Yadav arrived midway through our chat, her presence in the adjoining red chair visibly eased the chief minister. At 35, she looks younger than her age and young for a politician. She was surprisingly soft-spoken for a politician and sat perfectly straight, with an almost deferential sense of poise in our talk.

The couple has three children: An elder daughter, Aditi, nicknamed “Tim,” is 11. Their fraternal twins, Arj un, a boy, and Tina, a girl, are six. Mr. Yadav said he regretted not having more time to spend with his children since taking office. Mrs. Yadav gestured to her chest while formally contradicting her husband.

“I always find time,” she said.

The Yadavs seem keenly aware of the criticism about them, and Mr. Yadav of the pressure to act quickly. How long would be a fair time to judge his administration's progress?

“One year,” he said, definitively.

He is not likely to get that much time. The minister has made an attempt at damage control over the last few days, and publicly denied all charges against his administration. But after calls for an investigation into the doctor's kidnapping accusations were met with what critics say was a slow response, the honeymoon following Mr. Yadav's March election seems to have reached an abrupt end.

Watch the full interview.

 Michael Edison Hayden is an American writer currently living in Mumbai. Y ou can follow him on twitter @MichaelEHayden