SP looks beyond UP, shrugs off "Muslim" tag

The draft political resolution placed before the 4000-odd delegates today clearly indicated the party’s intention to discard its image as a Muslim party. The please-all resolution has been designed to attract various shades of old socialists into the party fold and, apart from the need to fight communalism,incorporates various other issues like agrarian distress, education policy and unemployment.

Maharashtra had given some of the greatest socialist leaders to the country, party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said in his address, exhorting socialists to come together “under one banner” to fight for a “systemic change”.

“The SP is a revolutionary party and is determined to carry out a systemic change in the country,” the resolution said. Fear, hunger, corruption and communalism are not separate issues, they are all symbols of the collapsing system, it added. The draft resolution and the discussion that followed highlighted the plight of farmers throughout the country. “Seventy five per cent of the Indian population is involved in agriculture but the farm’s contribution in the Indian economy has come down from 50 per cent to just half of it,” the resolution said. “The trouble is, when farmers harvest the crop, the prices come down but once they reach market the prices go up,” it added. The party chiefreminded the gathering of the legacies of Dr Lohia “who taught us to fight for social change” and Charan Singh “who showed us the importance of having farmer-oriented policies”. The party also launched a blistering attack on the TDP and its chief, Chandrababu Naidu. “This convention condemns Naidu who was convenor of the United Front for his decision to support the BJP government at the Centre,” the resolution said.

The TDP leadership was still not done with its doublespeak on the issue, Yadav alleged. “On one hand they swear by secularism but on the other, they continue to support the communal and fascist party at the Centre,” he fumed.

Party officials however appeared ill at ease when asked to explain the charge of having abandoned those jailed under TADA. Party general secretary Amar Singh said the SP had continued its agitation against the Act even as part of the UF government which had not involved the party in the committee reviewing TADA cases.