Lucknow:
A day after the Samajwadi Party (SP) disowned Shahid Siddiqui for interviewing Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, the MP and editor of the Urdu newspaper Nai Duniya, has hit back.
(Mulayam's party disowns Siddiqui)Slamming the party, Mr Siddiqui said he wanted to take Modi's interview to expose him, and not to befriend him. "There have been a lot of talks about Gujarat's development and Mr Modi's achievement for the past few years. I wanted to raise the Gujarat riots issue once again with Mr Modi in the interview."
Praising his own efforts, Mr Siddiqui claimed he asked some tough and straight questions to the Gujarat chief minister, who was at power when the riots took place. He said, "I asked questions to Narendra Modi no one ever has."
In his interview to Mr Siddiqui, the Gujarat Chief Minister had said that he should be hanged if he is found guilty of orchestrating the 2002 Gujarat riots. The remarks were perceived to be tailor made for the Muslim readership.
Terming his party's stand as a mere joke, Mr Siddiqui said, "I had joined the party in presence of all major Samajwadi Party leaders, including Mulayam Singh Yadav. So this joke is really sad."
"They are suffering from guilt as they have inducted people like Kalyan Singh and Sakshi Maharaj, who were responsible for demolishing the Babri Mosque, in their party and still there are such elements there," Mr Siddiqui said.
On Saturday, party leader Ram Gopal Yadav said, "The Samajwadi Party wants to make it clear that Shahid Siddiqui has left the party long time back. The party doesn't have any relation with him. It is wrong that he is using the name of the party. The media also considers him a part of Samajwadi Party, which is wrong."
Reacting to the stand taken by SP, Mr Siddiqui said, "How can they deny something that's as evident as the sun?"
While the SP maintains that Mr Siddiqui never joined the party again, pictures show he did so on January 8 this year. NDTV has video footage that clearly shows Mr Siddiqui at a function organised to welcome new leaders. SP Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh Yadav, Azam Khan and Ram Gopal Yadav were all present at this event, where Mr Siddiqui even read out a note of thanks.
"I want to thank neta ji (Mulayam Singh Yadav) ...I am joining the party to raise voice against the atrocities happening in the state for the last five years. I hope under the leadership of neta ji and Akhilesh ji, SP should soon come to power in Uttar Pradesh. We will all work hard for this," he had said, after Azam Khan welcomed him.
In his interview to Mr Siddiqui, the Gujarat Chief Minister had said that he should be hanged if he is found guilty of orchestrating the 2002 Gujarat riots. The remarks were perceived to be tailor made for the Muslim readership. A day after this interview Mr Yadav cracked the whip and gave sweeping orders that only he, party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and the state party spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary could make TV appearances for the party.
The Samajwadi Party fiercely guards its pro-Muslim identity. So an allergic reaction to even a remote and insignificant connection to Hindutva mascot Narendra Modi was expected.
Senior Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan conveyed the message without mincing words - "In politics, neither friendship nor enmity is permanent. But we cannot maintain friendship with someone like Narendra Modi. Narendra Modi is an enemy of humanity. I feel this is wrong. It is not right for a person like Narendra Modi to have been given an opportunity to give his opinion to a major Urdu daily," he said.
Till a day before this order, Mr Siddiqui often represented the SP on various news channels. Sources say after quitting the BSP, Mr Siddiqui returned to the Samajwadi Party fold but did not formally acquire its membership on paper.
(With PTI inputs)