Samajwadi Party (SP) president Mulayam Singh Yadav on Friday lambasted the Congress-led UPA Government for not heeding his advice on the increasing incursions by Chinese troops along the border. He said the neighbouring country had never been a reliable partner, but rather proved to be a betrayer.
Speaking at a party function organised here to woo the Brahmins, Mulayam said he had repeatedly warned the Centre that the Chinese Government was gobbling up India’s geographical borders since Independence, but the Centre never fortified itself against such threats.
“It is ridiculous. Now the foreign minister will visit China. I don’t know whether he would fold his hands before China or bow before it for a compromise to save the situation,” quipped Mulayam, who himself is a former defence minister. He said the whole country was with the Government of India, which has been given the mandate to take decisions in the interests of the country to guard its international borders and sovereignty .
The SP chief said the present UPA Government had failed in making India a strong country. Rather, all its neighbours had turned hostile, which is a great cause of concern.
However, Mulayam refrained from making any direct comment on the ongoing controversy over the sharing of the CBI report on coal scam with Union Law Minister Ashwani Kumar.
At the function, Mulayam assured the Brahmin community of solving its problems. The controversy-ridden function was initially named ‘Brahmin Sammelan’, but was renamed as ‘Bauddhik Sammelan’ (conference of the intellectuals) after SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav said the party should not copy the BSP by holding caste-based conferences. However, most of the participants spoke on how the party had been associated with the Brahmins in the past and how the latter backed the party.
Ironically, most of the SP leaders stayed away from the conference, a brainchild of Manoj Pandey, Minister of State in the Akhilesh Yadav Government.
No prominent Brahmin leader or any known intellectual participated in the conference, which proved to be an exercise in futility. Even party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary said he was not aware of any such programme.
The SP is concerned over the manner in which the BSP announced to launch its Brahmin-Dalit Bhaichara Sammelan from May 4. Also, BSP general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra would embark on a month-long state tour to woo back the Brahmins.