Double rebuff (newsnotes) - India Today

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Twice bitten, but still not shy. Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh
Yadav is not giving up yet on his campaign against the BSP-BJP combine in
Uttar Pradesh-despite two rebuffs in just one week. One of them came from
none other than his party workers. The indefinite statewide 'jail bharo'
agitation Mulayam launched on August 13-to draw the attention of the Centre
to the "misuse of the Harijan Act against SP workers and repression of his
supporters"-has flopped miserably. In the last five months, Mulayam has
repeatedly charged Chief Minister Mayawati with "organised persecution" of
his party workers. He claims more than 200 of his partymen have been killed
and 90,000 arrested on fabricated charges. On the first day of the
agitation, hardly 3,000 SP workers courted arrest in the entire state. In
Lucknow the figure was 68, and in Etawah, Mulayam's hometown, less than 100.

The other snub, too, was no less severe, with former prime minister H.D.
Deve Gowda withdrawing his call for launching a hunger strike in Lucknow in
support of the SP agitation. The volte face came soon after Mayawati
explained to him that she was helpless because most of the arrested
criminals belonged to the SP. "Now the agitation will be launched full
steam after September 1," said a visibly upset Mulayam in Lucknow. "All
the 20 party MPs will lead the agitation in different parts of the state."
Desperation, it would appear, also teaches fortitude.

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