Opposition parties on Sunday came down heavily on the Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh (UP) Government over the killing of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother Ashraf Ahmad, seeking a Supreme Court-monitored investigation and the resignation of the UP Chief Minister over the issue. While maintaining that criminals should be given the harshest of punishment, the Congress said it should be done under the rule of law and subverting or violating the rule of law was dangerous for democracy.
“Whoever does this, or gives protection to those who do such acts, should also be held responsible and the law should be strictly enforced on them. It should be our collective endeavour to ensure that the judicial system and rule of law are at all times honoured in letter and spirit,” Congress chief spokesman Jairam Ramesh said.
Without taking names, in a tweet in Hindi, Priyanka Vadra said the law of the country was written in the Constitution and this law was paramount. “Whoever plays with or violates the rule of law and the judicial process or gives protection to those who indulge in such an act, should also be held responsible and the law should be strictly enforced on that person,” she said, adding that it should be the endeavour of all that the justice system and the rule of law remained supreme in India.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi alleged that the UP Government had a role in the killings and demanded a Supreme Court-monitored investigation into the matter.
“No officer from Uttar Pradesh should be included in the committee. This was a cold-blooded murder,” he said adding people who were celebrating this killing are “vultures”.
Owaisi said that the incident raises a big question about the law and order situation in the State and demanded the resignation of Yogi Adityanath.
“I have always been saying that BJP in Uttar Pradesh is not running the Government by the rule of law but by the rule of gun,” Owaisi said.
Former UP Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said a deliberate atmosphere of fear was being created among people, while BSP MP Danish Ali termed the shootings as “cold-blooded” killings and said there was a “height of anarchy” in the State.
“When someone can be shot dead amidst a police cordon, then what about the safety of the general public,” said Akhilesh.
Former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Sunday said the killing raised serious questions over the style of functioning of the UP Government.
It would be better if the Supreme Court takes cognisance of this “extremely serious and worrisome” incident, which is being discussed across the country, she added.
In a series of tweets, she said, “Now, instead of ‘rule of law by law’ in Uttar Pradesh, how appropriate is it that it becomes ‘encounter Pradesh’? Something to think about.”
RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary said every criminal has a right to be heard in court and be convicted there but Atiq Ahmad and his brother were killed in police custody in the open.
“The CM should answer what kind of law and order he has established in the State. Is this not jungle raj and a ground to call for emergency rule in UP?”, the RLD leader said.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, too, on Sunday expressed her shock at what she termed as collapse of law and order in UP.
