Felt Sad For Ordering Firing on Karsewaks in 1990: Mulayam

Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav says he “felt sad” about the 1990 violence in Ayodhya.

Samajwadi Party supremo and former CM of Uttar Pradesh, Mulayam Singh Yadav. (Photo: Reuters)

About 25 years after the incident, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Sunday said he “felt sad” for ordering firing on ‘karsewaks’ in Ayodhya in 1990 but it was necessary to save the religious place.

Mulayam, who was the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, had ordered firing on karsewaks in Ayodhya in 1990 in which 16 people were killed.

Also read: Ayodhya DeQoded, Part 6: The Making of “Mullah Mulayam”

<p>I feel sad for firing on karsewaks but it was necessary to save the religious place (Babri Mosque).</p>

<b>Mulayam Singh Yadav, Samajwadi Party Chief</b>

He was addressing party workers at the Lucknow headquarter on the occasion of socialist leader Karpoori Thakur birth anniversary.

Mulayam said when the then Leader of Opposition Atal Bihari Vajpayee had mentioned the incident in Parliament, he had replied that it was necessary to order the firing.

Addressing the party workers, Mulayam came down heavily on party ministers saying, “he knew what they were doing. If they (ministers) have to earn money they should quit politics and start business”.

(With inputs from PTI.)