VHP demands Mulayam's arrest for firing on 'karsewaks' in 1990

Earlier, Mulayam Singh Yadav had justified his order to the Uttar Pradesh police to open fire on karsewaks

The VHP on Thursday asked the Uttar Pradesh government to lodge an FIR against Samajwadi Party (SP) founder Mulayam Singh Yadav for ordering the police to open fire on 'karsewaks' in Ayodhya in 1990 when he was the chief minister.

"The SP founder has repeatedly claimed that he had got the security personnel to open fire on karsewaks in Ayodhya in 1990 and the Yogi Adityanath government needs to take cognisance of this statement and get him immediately arrested after lodging an FIR," media incharge of the VHP Sharad Sharma said in a statement.

He said that the family members of those devotees of Lord Ram who lost their lives in the police firing will be contacted and an appeal will be made to the UP government as well as the court for lodging a case against the SP patron.

Drawing a parallel with General Dyer, who had opened fire on innocents in the Jallianwala Bagh during British rule, Sharma said the same act of cowardice had been committed by Mulayam Singh Yadav for saving his government and increasing his vote share.

He is giving the same advice to his son Akhilesh Yadav, he said.

"The VHP in its three-day 'dharam sansad' slated for November 24 to 26 in Karnataka will, besides the Ram Janmabhumi issue, deliberate on Mulayam Singh Yadav's acceptance for this "heinous crime," Sharma said.

During his 79th birthday celebrations in the state capital yesterday, Mulayam Singh Yadav had justified his order to the Uttar Pradesh police to open fire on karsewaks (volunteers), who were marching towards Ayodhya, when he was the chief minister.

"Had even more people been killed for the sake of the country's unity and integrity, the security forces would have done that," he had stated.

The former chief minister said that 28 lives were lost in the police firing at Ayodhya on October 30, 1990.

The firing had earned him the nickname of 'Mullah Mulayam' in the Muslim community, which accounts for nearly 20 per cent of the state's population.