SP slams Mayawati for observation on Muslims

Lucknow, Nov 11 (UNI) The ruling Samajwadi Party today slammed former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and BSP president Mayawati for her reported observation that Muslims in the country were ''fundamentalists.'' The former CM, addressing the media here yesterday, had claimed during the just-concluded mayoral polls that Muslims had voted for the SP candidate in Meerut as her (the candidate's) husband and state minister Haji Yakub Qureshi had made inflammatory speeches while campaigning as a result, she claimed, Muslims were carried away and the votes were polarised. BJP had bagged the Meerut seat.

Late last night, she called another press conference to clarify on her remarks as by then the SP had started protesting her remarks.

This morning, the SP youth wing activists burnt Ms Mayawati in effigy in the state capital.

Reacting to her reported remarks, senior SP leader and state Parliamentary Affairs minister Mohd Azam Khan said her statement proved BSP was not a well-wisher of Muslims.

''Had the Indian Muslims been fundamentalists, they would have opted for Pakistan during Partition,'' he added.

He also mentioned the reported remarks of late BSP founder Kansi Ram a few yrs ago that a public lavatory should be contructed at the disputed site in Ayodhya.

Reacting to SP's sharp reaction, she said today, a party with no ideology could do nothing more than demonstrating on her ''made belief'' remarks. ''Besides being a party of criminals, the SP has now turned out to be a party of theatrists,'' she quipped.

UNI NAB VS SB MIR RAI1846