New Delhi: Terming as a "white lie" Samajwadi Party`s claim that he was not its member, former MP Shahid Siddiqui on Sunday said he was inducted by Muluyam Singh in the party fold in January this year as its spokesperson.
Siddiqui also said that by disowning him, the Samajwadi Party had "shot the messenger".
The Samajwadi Party had distanced itself from Siddiqui yesterday after he interviewed Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi for a Urdu daily.
"They are telling white lies about my not being a party member. This year on January 6, Mulayam Singh had introduced me to the media as party spokesperson. Now they are saying such things about me," Siddiqui told PTI here.
"They are suffering from guilt as they have inducted people like Kalayan Singh and Sakshi Maharaj, who were responsible for demolishing the Babri Mosque, in their party and still there are such elements there," Siddiqui said.
On his future course of action, Siddiqui said political outfits were "family affairs and have no respect for freedom of speech and that is why I will stay away from party politics and continue to write and speak for a secular India."
Yesterday, Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav had said, "Siddiqui is not a SP member and has nothing to do with the party" and asked the media not to project him as SP leader.
Siddiqui, who is the editor of Urdu weekly Nai Duniya, had recently interviewed Modi in which the Gujarat Chief Minister had refused to apologise for the post-Godhra riots and instead said he would prefer to be hanged if found guilty.
Siddiqui alleged that ever since the Samajwadi Party had
come to power in Uttar Pradesh, they had done nothing for Muslims "and by portraying me as pro-Modi, they are trying to win back the support of the community as vote bank".
The former Rajya Sabha MP claimed that Muslims had voted Samajwadi Party to power in the state but were angry with it for not doing anything for them.
He claimed that there have been more riots in the state in last five months than in the last five years.
On his interview with Modi, Siddiqui said he had posed tough questions to Modi about his alleged role in the 2022 riots.
"I asked questions which nobody asks to Modi. People are scared even to see him in his eyes but I asked tough questions. So there is no question of my favouring anybody," he said.
PTI
