By Girish Kumar Dubey
Flexing his political muscle ahead of the upcoming polls, Indian lawmaker and accused in the 2008 cash-for-votes scam, Amar Singh, lashed out at friend-turned-adversary, Mulayam Singh Yadav in the Varanasi town of India's northern Uttar Pradesh state on Sunday (November 13).
Singh, a former leader of regional Samajwadi Party, was arrested on September 06 in connection with his alleged role in the scam and subsequently granted bail on humanitarian grounds on October 24.
Police arrested Singh and his secretary Sanjeev Saxena, after being reprimanded by the Supreme Court for sloppy investigation in July 2011. A private television channel had secretly recorded the alleged transaction of money.
Boosted by the conditional release, Singh is now seeking a comeback in Indian politics to restore his old glory, claim analysts.
Addressing a massive political rally in Varanasi, the articulate Singh voiced his ire at Yadav for having betrayed him earlier, asking the regional political heavyweight to explain why he had not supported him in testing times.
"I want to ask Mr. Mulayam Singh, why did you remember me and our relations during the recent elections? Why did you not remember me when my fellow leader, Jaya Prada, was facing atrocities and a harrowing time in Rampur (a town in northern India)? You did not remember me when a local leader in Rampur called me a middleman and a supplier. Why did you not show support to me by protesting his remarks?" asked Singh.
Yadav and Singh had bitter fallout last year, following which Singh and his close friend, Jaya Prada, were expelled from the Samajwadi Party on charges of indiscipline.
Since then, ties have been extremely strained between the Yadav and Singh-who had earlier been viewed as a formidable political duo by opponents.
Singh also slammed chief of the Hindu radical party Shiv Sena, Bal Thackeray, and his nephew, chief of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), Raj Thackeray, for their perceived ethnic bias against north Indians.
"Bal Thackeray and Raj Thackeray celebrate the Hindu festival of Ganesha Utsav. They do not get tired of worshipping Lord Ganesha, the son of Hindu God Shiva. They say Lord Ganesha is their father. However, Lord Ganesha's father is God Shiva, who hails from the holy town of Varanasi, and so do the people of Varanasi and Uttar Pradesh," added Singh.
In the past, the Shiv Sena has often targeted north Indians, especially those hailing from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, in its stronghold, India's western Maharashtra state, on the pretext of upholding the interests of the 'sons of the soil.'
The MNS too has a powerful influence over Mumbai, much like its larger political rival Shiv Sena, drawing sustenance from a politics of resisting immigration into Mumbai by Indians from states other than Maharashtra.
For generations, waves of migrants have tried to escape rural poverty by coming to Mumbai, gradually elbowing out the local Maharashtrians, who now form less than 50 percent of the city's more than 17 million people.
Meanwhile, Singh reflected on the proposal of creation of a separate state-Purvanchal-from the existing Uttar Pradesh region, urging the provincial chief minister, Mayawati, to bring the issue in the state assembly first.
"I appeal to the Uttar Pradesh chief minister that though you have written a letter to the Prime Minister (on the issue of division of the state), it will not lead to anything. You must call a session of the state assembly and get a proposal on the issue passed from the provincial legislators. This proposal must be sent to the Prime Minister. If the Prime Minister does not take any action on the issue of Purvanchal, then the federal ruling Congress party will come under fire," said Singh.
Mayawati currently heads the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and came to power in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh after a massive victory in the 2007 assembly election.
Uttar Pradesh is politically important, as it sends the most number of lawmakers to the national parliament in New Delhi. The state elections are due in 2012.
Flexing his political muscle ahead of the upcoming polls, Indian lawmaker and accused in the 2008 cash-for-votes scam, Amar Singh, lashes out at friend-turned-adversary, Mulayam Singh Yadav and regional leader Raj Thackeray at a rally.
PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS CONVERTED 4:3 MATERIAL
VARANASI, UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA (NOVEMBER 13, 2011) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (ANI-NO ACCESS BBC)
1. AMAR SINGH, INDIAN LAWMAKER AND ACCUSED IN THE 2008 CASH-FOR-VOTE SCAM, ARRIVING AT A POLITICAL RALLY IN A CAR
2. SINGH BEING ESCORTED OUT OF THE CAR IN A WHEELCHAIR
3. SINGH'S SUPPORTERS SITTING IN THE AUDIENCE
4. SINGH'S AIDES OFFERING A HUGE GARLAND TO HIM
5. AUDIENCE
6. (SOUNDBITE) (Hindi) AMAR SINGH, INDIAN LAWMAKER AND ACCUSED IN THE 2008 CASH-FOR-VOTE SCAM, SAYING:
"I want to ask Mr. Mulayam Singh, why did you remember me and our relations during the recent elections? Why did you not remember me when my fellow leader, Jaya Prada, was facing atrocities and a harrowing time in Rampur (a town in northern India)? You did not remember me when a local leader in Rampur called me a middleman and a supplier. Why did you not show support to me by protesting his remarks?"
7. AUDIENCE
8. (SOUNDBITE) (Hindi) AMAR SINGH, INDIAN LAWMAKER AND ACCUSED IN THE 2008 CASH-FOR-VOTE SCAM, SAYING:
"Bal Thackeray and Raj Thackeray celebrate the Hindu festival of Ganesha Utsav. They do not get tired of worshipping Lord Ganesha, the son of Hindu God Shiva. They say Lord Ganesha is their father. However, Lord Ganesha's father is God Shiva, who hails from the holy town of Varanasi, and so do the people of Varanasi and Uttar Pradesh."
9. AUDIENCE
10. (SOUNDBITE) (Hindi) AMAR SINGH, INDIAN LAWMAKER AND ACCUSED IN THE 2008 CASH-FOR-VOTE SCAM, SAYING:
"I appeal to the Uttar Pradesh chief minister that though you have written a letter to the Prime Minister (on the issue of division of the state), it will not lead to anything. You must call a session of the state assembly and get a proposal on the issue passed from the provincial legislators. This proposal must be sent to the Prime Minister. If the Prime Minister does not take any action on the issue of Purvanchal, then the federal ruling Congress party will come under fire."
11. AUDIENCE
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