The Hindu : Q & A: Mulayam Singh Yadav

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Mar 15, 2004

National

National - Elections 2004

Q & A: Mulayam Singh Yadav

"Uttar Pradesh is where the biggest battle of General Elections 2004 will be fought and the Samajwadi Party is all set to face up to the challenge." Mulayam Singh Yadav, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and President of the Samajwadi Party, has an air of confidence when he says this. Venkitesh Ramakrishnan caught up with him in the midst of his campaign tour and amidst speculation that the SP supremo has subtly shifted from an aggressively secular anti-Hindutva platform to a "middle path," which will allow him greater freedom once the poll is over. Excerpts from the interview:

What is the central issue for the SP in this election?

There can be no doubt as to what the central issue is. It is the total failure of the Vajpayee-led BJP-NDA Government in ensuring real development and improving the living conditions of ordinary people. The political hypocrisy of the ruling alliance tom-tomming the "India Shining" campaign will also be highlighted by SP. Farmers and workers are committing suicide in several parts of the country because of economic hardships and here we have the Prime Minister himself painting this fanciful `India Shining' picture. Our campaign will expose this shameful political cover-up.

The SP's principal political platform in earlier Lok Sabha polls was secularism, characterised by a strong anti-communal, anti-Hindutva agenda. There are suggestions that your focus on development amounts to soft-pedalling the anti-communal agenda ...

Is the fight against communalism bereft of the economic and development concerns? For the SP, the fight against communalism also includes the fight in the fields of economics and development. Several of our secular parties have failed to counter communalism properly because of their oversight in addressing these issues.

Notwithstanding all this theorisation, there are doubts that you are organisationally soft towards the BJP and the NDA in this election ...

Who are the people who say this? Those who have not even lifted a finger to fight the Hindutva communal forces. Who has stopped them all these years in India's most populous State? The SP, of course. In fact, we can legitimately claim that the SP's resistance of communalism on the ground is one of the key factors that has contributed to the very survival of secularism in India.

The complaint is that you are not facilitating the unity of secular forces in Uttar Pradesh. That you are even sabotaging the idea of putting up a common candidate against Mr. Vajpayee in Lucknow ...

The SP is not against secular unity. But in the name of this unity, don't ask me to me join hands with parties like the BSP which have consistently stabbed secularism in the back and joined hands with communal forces. What is the guarantee that such forces will not run into the communal camp once again for crumbs of power?

So, you have not facilitated secular unity just because you cannot accept the BSP. What about others like the Congress and Left parties?

My doors are always open to the Congress and the Left parties. But I have also told them not to try and ride in two boats at the same time. And that too a communal boat like the BSP.

You have also been accused of planning to put up a large number of candidates in Bihar, with the sole objective of damaging the prospects of the RJD, another secular party. Laloo Prasad says that you are doing this to help the BJP.

Laloo can say whatever he wants, but the SP is convinced that people of Bihar deserve a better secular party than [the] RJD. Anyone can see how backward Bihar is and this could become a major factor that would put secular forces on the back foot in the State. We are actually trying to prevent that by providing a secular alternative that would also focus on real development. Please also remember that I did not crib when Laloo came here and opposed me during the Assembly polls.

There is a view that your stance in Bihar has upset a section of secular voters, particularly in the Muslim community, enough to drive them away from the SP ...

The secular voters and the minorities know me very well. They do not need a certificate from anybody on my secular credentials. My track record is there for all to see.

How many seats does the SP expect in the next Lok Sabha?

Certainly more than 55 seats from Uttar Pradesh and about five to 10 seats from other States such as Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan. We will certainly be a strong block in the next Lok Sabha.

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