Belly dance boomerangs at Mulayam

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, known for his anti-women reservation bill and anti-English medium schools stance, is drawing flak for an unlikely reason: enjoying, along with his clan and senior party leaders, a sizzling performance by Ukrainian belly dancers at Saifai Mahotsav on Sunday night.

The mahotsav -- an annual cultural extravaganza at Mulayam's native village Saifai in Etawah district -- which is supposed to showcase rural art and culture, took a paradigm shift on Sunday night when these foreign belles, duly aided by Mumbai bar dancers, made a jam-packed crowd gyrate to their tunes.

The SP chief, who was in attendance and stayed till the end, played a true sport. This encouraged some of his relatives and party workers, who couldn't resist the temptation of shaking a leg with the scantily-clad Ukranian dancers. It all ended with the SP's jamboree getting a thunderous applause from their boss and party workers.

Saifai Mahotsav was started in 2003 when the SP was in power in the state. Till last year, the show would be run by Mulayam's former blue-eyed boy Amar Singh. Thanks to his Bollywood connections, stars from tinsel town were in regular attendance. But, with Amar now out of the party, the Bollywood source has dried up.

Amar, expectedly, was the first to take a potshot at his former mentor. "I will have to see the video clips of the show to confirm that Mulayam was

watching an obscene dance at Saifai Mahotsav," he said, tongue-in-cheek, adding "but if what the media reports are saying is true then it is all about Mulayam's personal preferences."

He, however, did not forget to mention the standard of events during his tenure with the SP. "We used to have artistes like Asha Bhosle, Hema Malini and Jaya Prada. I feel sorry that things have reached such a pass," said Singh.

UP Congress Committee president Rita Bahuguna Joshi was equally critical. "It is good that a big party like SP is organising a programme for rural folks. But such performances are not required," Joshi said, adding: "When it started off, it was limited to the extent of Bollywood stars, but this is unacceptable."