Mulayam kickstarts campaign to woo backward castes

Terming the UPA government as "anti-backward," SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav today launched a campaign to woo the community and said the yatras would pave the way for a change of power at the Centre.
"For inclusion of 17 most backward castes of OBC in Scheduled Caste, my previous government and current Akhilesh regime have passed two resolutions and sent them to the Centre, but they were overlooked," Mulayam said, flagging off two rallies to raise awareness among the backward castes.
He accused the Congress-led UPA government of being "anti-backward" and alleged that a conspiracy was being hatched to abolish quota system which was aimed at removing social inequality.

He claimed that Congress wanted to end the reservation system.
The Samajwadi Party chief said his party would not only win the Lok Sabha polls with a thumping majority, but there would also be a change of power at the Centre.
He said the 'samajik nyaya' (social justice) and 'adhikaar' (right) yatras would help in creating awareness among the people of backward castes and they would be prepared to end socio-economic inequalities.

Mulayam said after the yatras, which will continue till December 19, all the political equations would be demolished, and an atmosphere for change of power at the Centre would be created.

Speaking on the occasion, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav alleged that the central government was anti-poor and its policies were pro-capitalists, due to which poor people were not getting benefit.
Akhilesh said contrary to this, there was no social inequality or discrimination in any policy of his government.
He said there were several scams in the UPA regime which were not easily understood by the common man despite his party's efforts. "Through 2G, Congress committed a scam even in the air," he alleged.
Referring to policies and achievements of his government, the Chief Minister said policies for the welfare of the poor, farmers, students and the unemployed would set the tone for the Lok Sabha elections.

Samajwadi Party, with 22 Lok Sabha MPs, supports the UPA government from the outside.