Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav on Thursday apologised to Muslims in the country for associating with Mr Kalyan Singh, a key accused in the demolition of the Babri mosque.
The move is apparently aimed at reclaiming lost ground among the minorities and refurbishing his image as a secular leader. The Samajwadi Party’s Muslim vote had drifted to the Congress in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections after Mr Yadav allied with Mr Kalyan Singh.
Mr Yadav has not named former BJP leader Kalyan Singh but the reference is more than obvious. The SP president said he was forced to take on board “some wrong people” in order to keep communal forces away from power in the LS polls.
“This caused considerable confusion and mental agony to (my) Muslims brothers and I publicly promise not to repeat the mistake,” the statement read. Mr Yadav said that as CM in 1990 he had made every effort to prevent the Babri demolition.
Mr Yadav’s statement is designed to silence critics who have been accusing him of joining hands with communal forces ever since he struck an alliance with Mr Kalyan Singh last year.
Mr Kalyan Singh, who was in Aligarh on Thursday, reacted sharply, saying Mr Yadav should first apologise to the backward castes since he had betrayed their interests.
“Mulayam Singh is simply trying to appease the minorities for political gain. In 2003, when he was trying to form government after Mayawati’s resignation, he came to my house seven times and finally formed government with the support of my legislators. He is known to betray people who help me and this time is no different,” he said.