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ShareSamajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav's rally in Govandi -- to garner support for his state unit chief, Abu Azmi -- turned out to be a flop show on Saturday. Singh could not pull in the large numbers he hoped for. Two rallies held by Mulayam at Bhiwandi and Govandi were for Azmi, who is contesting both seats.
The SP has fielded 32 contestants across the state. The turnout in Govandi, in the Mankhurd-Shivaji Nagar constituency, was so low people assembled in the Mhada colony grounds compared it to Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati's poorly-attended rally last week.
In his 20-minute speech, Mulayam spoke on issues which had no connect with the crowd (of mostly Muslims and Dalits), like national security, his term as defence minister, the sex ratio in education etc. The only issue that got some response was inflation. He clearly avoided talking about the migrant issue unleashed by the MNS, and took a dig at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for not taking on China for its alleged anti-India activities.
Singh also came up with some far-fetched suggestions, like an India-Pakistan-Bangladesh federation, and an Indo-Pak cricket team so that "there would be no defeat on the cricket ground".
The crowd, which was expecting actors Sanjay Dutt and Jaya Bachchan to be present, was disappointed they were not. "Most of us came to see Sanjay Dutt and Jaya Bachchan. Their absence, and Mulayam's speech, has been a double disappointment," Arif Quraishi, resident of Shivaji Nagar, said.
