Mulayam sees signs of Emergency days

ACCUSING THE Congress of plotting to destabilise his government, Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav today called upon all socialists and Left Parties to unite and be prepared to face the challenges as signs of Emergency like conditions were reemerging at the Centre.

Yadav, who was addressing a public meeting after laying the foundation stone of the Jai Prakash Narain International Centre here in Gomti Nagar on Thursday, put Left Parties in the dock for not taking a firm political stand. “I have told CPM leader Prakash Karat that I just need five-minutes with him to decide the fate of the Central Government,” he said but added that he was yet to get an appointment with him on the issue.

Referring to the office-of-profit controversy, the CM said though there were over 40 MPs of various political parties who occupied two posts, only Amar Singh and Jaya Bachchan were being targeted. “The manner in which the Congress with just 145 MPs is dictating its terms today reminds me of the party’s authoritarian style of functioning during the Emergency under Indira Gandhi,” Yadav said. He was seconded on this count by party general secretary Amar Singh, who said it was because of the support from Left Parties that the UPA continued to be in power.

Senior SP leader Janeshwar Mishra, however, had a piece of advice for the chairman of the UP Development Council. Mishra asked Amar Singh to henceforth be more circumspect in his attacks and give respect to his political adversaries.

“Being always on the offensive is neither a good strategy nor a sign of maturity, he said and cited the example of Jai Prakash Narain, who, he said also opposed the policies of the Congress but registered his dissent in a very subtle yet effective manner.

The Rs 25-crore International Centre, to be built on the lines of India International Centre in New Delhi, would be part of the sprawling Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Park. Commending the CM for the project, senior SP leader Beni Prasad Verma said that he (CM) had created a history of sorts by bringing together two different political ideologues (Ram Manohar Lohia and Jai Prakash Narain) on a common platform. Both Verma and Urban Development Minister Azam Khan urged former Defence Minister George Fernandes to come forward and lead the coalition of parties against the Congress at the Centre.

In fact, the demand for constructing a conference centre in the name of JP was raised by Fernandes during the ceremony to dedicate the Lohia Park by the CM last year. Expressing his gratitude to the CM for keeping his wish, Fernandes, while lauding the economic development where India had the largest number of billionaires, whose net worth was now being assessed in dollars, lamented the widening gap between the haves and the have-nots.

“Power is not the ultimate objective of ‘samajwad’ (socialism). The important thing is that there should be no difference in our words and deeds,” he stressed. He chided the gathering for raising slogans like ‘hamara neta kaisa ho,’ which he said were first raised by Congressmen for Rajiv Gandhi.

Prominent among those present on the occasion included, SP MP Ram Gopal Yadav, poet Gopal Das Neeraj, CPM leader Ram Swaroop Singh, chief information commissioner Justice (Retd) MA Khan, Lokayukt NK Mehrotra and a host of ministers and senior bureaucrats.