Samajwadi Party offered its stage to stitch a secular alliance when Mulayam Singh Yadav and Janata dal (U)’s Sharad Yadav shared dais on Samajwadi Party’s national convention on Wednesday and issued a call to secular forces to unite to save the country from communal forces.
Sharad Yadav’s presence in the national convention of Samajwadi Party was indicative of an attempt of so-called secular forces to prop up regional straps like Samajwadi Party and Janata Dal (U) on the national horizon – particularly after successes of these two parties in bye-elections.
“Just hold on more leaders are expected to attend SP’s national convention that will continue till Friday. Navin Patnaik and Chaudhry Ajit Singh have been sent an invite to attend this meet,” a senior Samajwadi Party leader told The Pioneer.
RlD sources however declined knowledge about any invitation from Samajwadi Party to Chaudhry Ajit Singh to attend party’s meeting.
Mulayam and Sharad’s meeting came four day prior to October 12 rally called by Rashtriya lok Dal president Ajit Singh in Meerut where several secular leaders including lalu Prasad Yadav, Naveen Patnaik, former Prime Minister H D Devegowda, Nitish Kumar along with Mulayam Singh Yadav and Sharad Yadav would participate. The meeting is called by Chaudhry Charan Singh Smarak Sanyukt Morcha.
Mulayam Singh Yadav and Sharad Yadav showered praises on each other calling each other “bada bhai” and “chota bhai”. “Sharad Yadav ko dekh kar purane din yaad aa gaye,” Mulayam Singh said.
Both the Yadavs used the occasion to berate communal forces targetting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Janata Dal (U) leader called for unity among the secular parties to save the Constitution and the country.
“India needs a bigger alliance to counter communal forces, and for this Mulayam Singh Yadav should take a lead,” Sharad Yadav said in his speech. “Mulayam Singh ji mere bade bhai hain. He is my political mentor and has fought communal forces tooth and nail. There is a threat to the country after BJP came to power and Mulayam Singh ji should make efforts to bring all the secular forces under one umbrella,” he said.
“We (Janata Dal (U) and Mulayam Singh ji have shown the BJP its place during the by-polls in Bihar and UP respectively. If we can do it at state level why not we should join hands at national level,” he said.
Sharad Yadav said that Modi during election campaign sold false dreams. The bholi janata got mesmerized by his blib talks and voted for BJP. What happened now,” he asks. “Jo garajte hain wo barste nain” (barking dog seldom bites)”, he said.
Mulayam also criticized Modi for his failure to tame China. “Mind my words, China is a bigger threat to India than Pakistan. But what Modi is doing no one knows,” Mulayam Singh said.