Dr. M.R.A. Siddiqui (in The Nation and the World, 1 August, 1999) credits the Samajwadi Party leader with protecting the Babari Masjid when he was Chief Minister in 1990, with the non-occurrence of communal massacres during his term in office and with giving jobs to Muslims.

As for the first, one has to give full marks to Shri Yadav for doing what he did. But, subsequently, he did not lift a finger when the Sangh Parivar, on coming to power, changed the topography of the disputed land around the Babari Masjid with massive excavations in October, 1991 to April, 1992, when they illegally constructed the concrete base in front of Babari Masjid for the proposed mandir in July, 1992 and when they finally demolished the Masjid in December 1992.

As for employment one would like to know the figure of recruitment in various departments and cadres during his term and the number of Muslims taken in, post-wise. I doubt that the proportion of the Muslim at any level, in any category or cadre, is anywhere near 16 per cent, which they deserve or has shown any remarkable rise in the total strength during this period.

Regarding communal violence the people should be informed why Mulayam Singh Yadav did not dismiss or prosecute the PAC personnel involved in Hashimpura Massacre, 1987, and why at last long, when his government was forced to consider the prosecution of those indicted by the CID inquiry, only 19 out of 67 were put on trial.

One thing more, Dr. Siddiqui should tell us about percentage of Muslims among the candidates fielded by the Samajwadi Party for the Lok Sabha in 1996 and 1998 and in the immediate preceding UP Assembly Elections.

Statistics cannot be substituted by motivated impressions.