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Mulayam honours `loktantra senanis'

Special Correspondent

"Next struggle against the attacks on the country, farmers, language and culture"

LUCKNOW: Announcing a series of sops for MISA and DIR detenus during the Emergency days, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav on Saturday said that the next struggle would be against the attacks on the country, farmers, language and culture.

The Chief Minister distributed cheques for Rs. 2,500 each to 5,642 detenus called "loktantra senanis" at a function on Kanpur Road and also announced that they would be given identity cards. They would also be entitled to free treatment in government hospitals. "Instructions would be sent to the District Magistrates soon," said the Chief Minister.

Mr. Yadav dismissed the reported deaths of farmers in U.P. due to poverty as mischievous propaganda to defame his Government. He said about 20,000 farmers had committed suicide in the southern States. He also directed the State Chief Secretary N.C. Bajpai to send necessary instructions to the District Magistrates that they would be held accountable for any starvation deaths in their districts.

Regretting that the Congress had not apologised for the Emergency excesses, the Chief Minister complimented the detenus for the courage shown by them in fighting the anti-democracy forces. He said the new generation was not aware of the contribution made by those whose civil rights were suppressed during the Emergency, and added that renewed efforts needed to be made to enlighten the young generation of the role played by the Emergency detenus in saving democracy. Mr. Yadav attacked the Central Government and said it was conspiring against the State governments. He said multi-national companies were responsible for ruining the farmers in Maharashtra and Vidarbha caught in the debt trap.

The Chief Minister claimed that his government had succeeded on all fronts in the three years of Samajwadi Party rule in the State. "The U.P. Government does not believe in the policy of discrimination which is why hand-pumps, roads and flood and drought relief have been given to the MLAs cutting across party lines."

Expressing concern at the decline of Hindi and Urdu and the proliferation of English medium schools, Mr. Yadav appealed to the "loktantra senanis" to raise their voice against the disparity.

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