SP lambasts Cong at National Executive meeting

Hardwar, Oct 14: The Samajwadi Party today lambasted the Congress for ''ruining the economy of the country, jeopardising internal security, failing to protect the interests of the minorities and lowering the prestige of the country in international community''.

At the two-day meeting of the National Executive of the party which began here under the presidentship of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and party president Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mr Amar Singh, MP, alleged that the Congress had made the country ''a stooge of American imperialism''.

''In spite of our one sided and unstinted support to the US, the latter has betrayed our interests many a time'', Mr Singh told the presspersons.

Mr Singh further said the National Executive of the party strongly condemned ''the Union government's silence on Pope's recent utterances against the Muslims and the government's lead role in supporting the American campaign against the Muslim community on the pretext of fighting terrorism''.

Flaying the foreign policy of the government, a party resolution said that due to wrong policies, the country had been isolated in international community. ''It is a measure of the failure of our foreign policy that none of the five permanent members of the Security Council supported India's sponsored candidate for the post of UN Secretary General,'' said the resolution.

Condemning the economic policies of the Central government, the party's economic resolution said that as a result of anti-poor and anti-farmer policies, the prices of essential commodities were spiralling, farmers were committing suicides and unemployment was increasing. ''The share of agriculture in the five-year plan has declined to 24 per cent from 57 per cent in the first five-year plan,'' said the resolution.

In its political resolution, the party, besides lambasting the Congress, also condemned the communal character of the BJP and the opportunism of the BSP. The party said the BSP had joined hands with the ''communal'' BJP many times in the past and Mayawati had now turned the party into a ''political shop'' to auction the party tickets for the assembly and Lok Sabha elections to the highest bidders.

''After the demise of Kanshi Ram, Samajwadi Party remains the only custodian of the interests of the downtrodden who have now no option except joining hands with the Samajwadi Party,'' said the resolution.

UNI