Mulayam Singh woos Muslims at start of ‘Mulayam Sandesh Yatra’

Lucknow, Sep 10 (PTI) To woo Muslims, Samajwadi Partysupremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today said minorities helped hisparty come to power after the Babri Masjid was demolished inAyodhya and claimed that SP will return to power in the stateagain. "When BJP pulled down the Babri masjid in Ayodhya, Muslimshelped my party form government …Muslims are not againstus…we did not kill anyone in Ayodhya yet case was lodgedagainst us," Mulayam Singh said at a function to kickstart"Mulayam Sandesh Yatra" at the party headquarters here. Exhorting partymen, Yadav said "There is a need to bringmore women and Muslims in the party…Muslims are not againstus….even Muslim leaders of other parties do not speakagainst us..Muslims are the most backward and our governmentworked for their development, we started recruitment and todaythere are constables of the community in each police station. Referring to the famous chikan work of Lucknow, Yadav saidthey are made by Muslim artisans and asked youth in the partyto take a resolve for bringing SP back to power. "The youth have still not got jobs…this time round whenwe come back to power all will get employment..none of theyouth will be without work," he said. The SP chief regretted that women were not associated withthe party in good numbers as leaders and workers do notencourage it and give them enough respect. "There should havebeen 500 girls in today’s meeting instead of 50," he said. Yadav claimed once the SP yatra gets going, all similaryatras of different parties will be left behind. He claimed all the promises of 2012 election werefulfilled two years ago and many more works were undertakenlater which were not a part of the manifesto. Terming the upcoming assembly elections as crucial, hesaid though other parties started poll preparations long ago,his party was a little late in it but hoped that the youth inthe party will overcome it soon. PTI SAB RCB RGRCB