MEERUT, Oct 9 (Times of India) : After BJP hoardings threatening to "hit" Pakistan in their own territory came up in communally sensitive Muzaffarnagar, a local Samajwadi Party leader has also put up a hoarding claiming that Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered the surgical strike only after consulting with SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. Mohammed Shamsher Malik, the district president of the Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha, confirmed to TOI that he had ordered the hoardings to be put up.
In the hoarding, placed at Novelty Chowk in the city, pictures of SP supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, CM Akhilesh Yadav and Malik can be seen, along with a message thanking the Indian Army for the surgical strike, and Mulayam, "on whose advice the Indian government carried out the strike". The hoarding goes on to declare, in an obvious reference to the BJP, "The Indian Army which carried out the strike and enhanced India's pride globally are heroes; those who play toxic politics in the name of the Army are zeroes."
"Netaji (Mulayam) has been our defence minister in the past, so he is well informed on what has been going on at the border and how the terrorists' infiltration could be curbed. He met PM Modi and advised him to conduct surgical strike across the LoC," Malik told TOI.
On being asked how, being a very junior leader in the party, he was privy to such confidential details, he said, "Our senior leaders in the district share what they discussed with leaders in Lucknow and Delhi. I got to know from them and realized the common man must know the truth, about who advised the Union government on such a bold step."
District president of Samajwadi Party in Muzaffarnagar, Shyamlal Saini, denied that he had any such information mentioned by Malik. He told TOI over the phone, "Neither do I have any idea where Malik got this information from, nor did I know, till now, about any such hoarding in the city. However, we know that the Centre took the decision of conducting surgical strikes taking all the senior politicians in confidence. As Netaji has been defence minister in past, government would certainly have discussed the matter with him before taking such a bold step. We see no harm if someone among us praises the Indian Army and our leaders for conducting surgical strikes in PoK."
Two days earlier, BJP supporters had erected hoardings at nine spots in city but brought them down shortly after a massive row erupted on social media. Aam Aadmi Party had slammed BJP for politicizing the incident while, taking a dig at the BJP, Omar Abdullah, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir posting from his official Twitter account: "And some people will lecture others about politicising the Army action all the while turning a blind eye to hoardings like these that sprout."