SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav plays 'Mandal card' to woo backward classes

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Friday played the Mandal card in an apparent bid to woo back the backward classes that had drifted away from the party in the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year.

Addressing party workers on the final day of the SP convention, Yadav said many sections of backward classes had been deprived of the benefits of the Mandal Commission's recommendations owing to the BJP's opposition. Recalling a party meeting held during the Mandal turmoil in the early 1990s, he said: "(Former PM) Chandrashekhar had then supported the SP stance at the meeting, but the BJP didn't support it. As a result, a few backward castes were deprived of the concessions recommended by the Mandal Commission."

The SP chief said he was opposed to such discrimination in offering relief to backward classes and would take up the issue with the PM and chief ministers of other states. "Don't worry," he said. "I'll continue to take up this issue as and when needed."

Yadav exhorted the SP's young brigade to brace for future challenges. "We shouldn't give up our struggle for the rights of the poor and downtrodden even if we're in power," he said. "They're the real strength of the party."

Yadav cautioned party workers not to let communal forces take advantage of the current tension along the India-Pakistan border. "An exchange of fire is continuing along the border," he said. "People will try to take political mileage from this escalation. There should be no reaction in the country or among ourselves."

But he lauded the Indian Army for giving a befitting reply to Pakistan. "No matter how much shelling Pakistan resorts to, it'll never be able to match our defence forces and their fighting instincts," he said.