Samata assails govt, demands US good boycott

That Samata Party officials were clearly harking back to the days of ‘‘Revolutionary George’’ was seen in their utter relish at name calling.

The statement read out by party general-secretary and spokesperson Shambu Srivastav, was stinging.

Apart from condemning the US aggression on Iraq ‘‘as most inhuman and unjust, and an invitation to anarchy in international affairs,’’ Srivastava hit out at the NDA Government’s stand of a ‘‘middle path’’ on the Iraq War. ‘‘Any talk of a middle-path is the path of eunuchs,’’ he thundered.

The Samata Party has never been able to shake off the ghost of ‘‘Saint George’’ and ‘‘Revolutionary George’’ and has been haunted by the spectre in all its earlier incarnations too, from the Fifties to the present.

Who can resist the romance of George’s subversive nature — whether it was his rebellion as a student against the priests in his seminary for feasting while students had to eat swill, to being tried for treason for waging a war against the state (the great Railway strike of 1974).

To the amusement of mediapersons present, the Samata, in an exaggerated show of defiance and boldness, served the traditional summer beverage, the rose-flavoured Rooh Afza, and plates full of snacks from a neighbourhood canteen. Colas were boycotted.

The Samata has called for massive demonstrations at all party district headquarters in the country on April 5.