Samajwadi Party MP justifies 1990 firing on Kar Sevaks

According to an NDTV report, Samajwadi Party MP Sanatan Pandey has defended the firing ordered by Mulayam Singh Yadav in 1990 on Kar Sevaks marching towards Ayodhya. He claimed that this strict step was taken to keep India's Constitution safe and to prevent a potential civil war. This statement has come just a few days after Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath demanded an apology from Akhilesh Yadav for this incident.

Interacting with journalists, the Samajwadi Party MP launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party. He alleged that the BJP has been continuously misleading the public by politicizing this incident for the last three decades, i.e., for 35 years since the year 1991. Looking at history, two years after this incident, on 6 December 1992, the 16th-century Babri Masjid was demolished by thousands of Kar Sevaks. The Kar Sevaks believed that this mosque was built on the remains of an ancient temple at the birthplace of Lord Rama in Ayodhya.

Retaliating on this matter, MP Sanatan Pandey also mentioned the large-scale agitations and protests that have taken place in recent times. He raised the question of who is responsible for the alleged firing orders during recent public agitations and protests. His gesture was towards the alleged police brutality, meaning police atrocities, that occurred during the protests staged by students in Delhi and across the country.

In this context, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge in Delhi had demanded that the BJP government at the Centre should apologize to the students. He also said that strict action should be taken against those who ordered the use of lathis and pellet guns to suppress the voice of students protesting at Jantar Mantar against the NEET paper leak.

Apart from this, during student protests in Bihar in the month of July, a police officer was seen firing from an AK-47 rifle. In this matter, the Bihar government had informed the Supreme Court that a policeman trapped during the protest had fired from an AK-47, but no one was injured in this incident.

Targeting the BJP, Sanatan Pandey further asked that for the last 35 years they have been criticizing Mulayam Singh Yadav and claiming that he ordered firing on Ram bhakts, and are misleading the public through this narrative. But he questioned who recently ordered firing on other people during the rule of their own government? Whose government was in the state and whose government was at the Centre? If Netaji, meaning Mulayam Singh Yadav, had ordered the firing to protect the Constitution of India, then it was a completely correct step.

The MP emphasized that at that time the disputed site, which is now the Rama temple, had to be protected. It is noteworthy that the BJP government at the Centre in the year 2023 honored the late founder of the Samajwadi Party, Mulayam Singh Yadav, with the Padma Vibhushan, the country's second-highest civilian honor, for his outstanding contribution in the field of public affairs. Mulayam Singh Yadav's son Akhilesh Yadav accepted this Padma award on behalf of his father.