"If the BJP pushes us to the wall, we will expose them" , says Mulayam Singh Yadav - Indian Express

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zhe diminutive wrestler-politician from remote Sainfai
village of Mulayam may be in or out of power. But he has
always managed to make the headlines, although not always
for the right reasons. Ever since his installation as
the Defence Minister in H.D. Deve Gowda's United Front
Government, some of his UF colleagues have been trying to
corner him in Uttar Pradesh, where a crucial political
battle with the BJP is to unfold shortly, when the state
goes to the polls in 0October.

In an interview with YOGESH VAJPEYI, Mulayam Singh Yadav
talks of his perception of the coming electoral battle in
UP, his political opponents and some of his not-too-
reliable fellow-travellers who seem more interested in
cutting him to size than fighting the BJP. He also
reacts to charges of harbouring and patronising criminal
elements and using mafialike methods to resolve political
differences as brought out in the Ramesh Chandra report
on the UP Guest House incident in which SP activists
acting on his orders are alleged to have kidnapped and
brow-beaten BSP MLAs when the latter decided to break the
SP-BSP alliance in June 1994.

On the eve of crucial UP assembly elections, there
appears to be a concerted effort by some of your fellow-
travellers to isolate you? Who do you think are behind
the conspiracy? What do they want?

I have always opposed communal and fascist forces
represented by the BJP, even at the risk of losing
political power. Some of the friends who joined me in
the fight against the BJP, however, switched sides and
shook hands with the BJP just to grab power. The BJP has
its fifth columnists in some other parties who claim to
profess secular ideologies, and they have tried to
obstruct the emergence of a strong Left and democratic
alternative to the BJP and the Congress in the past.
Some of them are still doing it, but the Samajwadi Party
is not deterred by these scabs.

Do you think there was a design in Prime Minister
H.D.Deve Gowda's recent visits to Uttar Pradesh without
consulting you? How do you view the efforts of Gowda and
Janata Dal leaders like Laloo Yadav and C.M. Ibrahim to
resurrect the JD in Uttar Pradesh?

As the Prime Minister of the country, Deve Gowda is most
welcome to visit UP whenever he likes. And I see nothing
to object to in his efforts to revive the Janata Dal.
The Samajwadi Party is also a constituent of the UF, but
it has a different political agenda of its own. It is
for the people to decide which party can lead them toward
the goal of social justice.

Who do you consider as your principal opponent in Uttar
Pradesh? The BJP or the BSP-Congress combine?

The BJP is obviously our principal opponent because it
stands for all that the Samajwadi Party abhors. However,
there is not much distinction between the BJP and the

Congress when it comes to a trial of strength between the
secular and communal forces. When the Babri Mosque was
demolished by the RSS-BJP stormtroopers, P.V.Narasimha
Rao's Congress Government at the Centre remained quiet
till the evil deed was completed. It is for the people
to judge if this was an act of complicity or not. As for
the BSP it betrayed the trust the people reposed in the
SP-BSP alliance during the 1993 assembly elections by
breaking it and joining hands with the BJP to form a
government in UP. And this government was installed by
UP Governor Motilal Vora illegally at the instance of the
Rao-ruled Centre without giving me an opportunity to
demonstrate majority support on the floor of the House as
laid down by the Supreme Court in the Bommai case. This
was a clear proof of conspiracy. I am, therefore, not
surprised that those who did not mind forming a
government with BJP support have now joined hands with
Rao.

It is said that the UP Guest House incident of June 2,
1994, tilted the balance against you. Now that the
Ramesh Chandra Committee Report has indicted you and some
of your senior colleagues, what do you have to say?

The UP Guest House incident has been blown out of
proportion by a section of the media which is sympathetic
to the BJP. It was this section which had accused me of
killing hundreds of kar sevaks during the Ayodhya kar
seva in October and November 1990. But all I had done
was to ask the state security forces that they ensure
that the Supreme Court's directive about maintaining the
status quo be honoured. And I am proud of the fact that
a desperate attempt to demolish the Mosque was foiled by
me. But for the BJP, this is an act of criminality,
while the Kalyan Singh Government's proven complicity in
the demolition of the Mosque on December 6, 1992, is an
act of virtue.

What about the Chandra Committee Report?

It is a totally biased and false report prepared by an
officer who wanted to settle accounts with me for not
being made the chief secretary. There was no violence at
the Guest House except that the supporters of the SP and
BSP indulged in some slogan-shouting against each other.
If anybody committed a crime, let the law take its
course. But the BSP and the BJP are only interested in
making political capital out of it.

The BJP leaders have accused you of barhouring criminals
and encouraging them in politics?

The BJP had itself fielded one of the most notorious
criminals against me in Mainpuri during the recent Lok
Sabha elections. He is now wanted in connection with the
murders of a number of SP workers in the Mainpuri area.
But for the BJP he appears to be a saint. During and
after the Lok Sabha elections, at least two dozen SP
workers have been gunned down and beaten up by BJP goons
with open encouragement from a section of the
bureaucracy. The SP Member of Parliament Subhawati was
assaulted and humiliated by BJP goondas after her
victory. This was done with the open support of senior
district and police officials. Earlier, her husband, a
former SP legislator, and his supporters were killed by
BJP men. But nothing has been done in these cases.

You have said that you have in your possession some
masala (spicy news) about BJP leader Atal Behari
Vajpayee. Why don't you come out with it?

Yes, we are in possession of many facts about senior BJP
leaders and their unsavoury background. When the Kalyan
Singh Government came to power in 1991, some BJP leaders
had tried to give the impression that the SP was packed
with criminals. But when I started releasing the list of
BJP ministers and legislators with criminal records, they
fell silent. I am trying to avoid bringing personalities
into the controversy as this would deflect attention from
the main political issues. And this is what the BJP
wants. But if they push us to the wall, we will be
forced to reveal the truth about BJP leaders, including
Vajpayee, to the public.

Why not just now when the BJP leaders are openly accusing
you of having a criminal mentality?

Let the time come and you will know. The people of Uttar
Pradesh know who is what and need no evidence. They have
been victims of the BJP goonda raj and will never
tolerate it.

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