Mulayam defends his secular credentials

Rampur, UP, Sep 18 (UNI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav today defended his secular credentials and charged Congress and the opposition with launching a disinformation campaign against him.

''I have always followed secular polity, but the Congress and opposition have been opposed to such principles,'' he said while addressing a gathering after laying foundation of Maulana Mohammad Ali Jauhar University here.

Mr Yadav said secularism was the gift to the country by people who scripted the Indian Constitution. ''I am a great stickler of seclular principles,'' he declared.

The Chief Minister said his defence of innocent students of Nadwa -- an Islamic education centre in the state capital -- during a raid of Intelligence Bureau (IB) more than a decade ago, had earned him the wrath of the Centre.

''The recent book of former IB director M K Dhar in which I was dubbed as an ISI agent is proof of that,'' he pointed out.

Mr Yadav reminded the gathering that not only had he criticised the raid, but had lodged a complaint under section 307 of IPC against all the officers involved in the raid.

He said the adept handling of the Ayodhya crisis in 1993 had come in for praise from all quarters, but at the same time it had given an opportunity to the opposition parties to malign him by terming him as 'anti-hindu'.

Bashing the Congres-led UPA government at the Centre for creating hurdles in the progress and development of UP, the Chief Minister said his government would clear all hurdles to pave way for speedy development.

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