Sir — Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav is a big disappointment to all those who believed in him and his father, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, when they said that criminals would not have a free run in their reign. Yet, there has been a spate of riots, rapes and murders in the State.
Having miserably failed to control the situation, all that the Chief Minister has been doing is suspending and transferring bureaucrats. He has removed the State’s Chief Secretary Javed Usmani, one of the most reputed and upfront bureaucrats, over the Badaun gang rape case. If the Chief Secretary is responsible, how is the Chief Minister not accountableIJ Transferring officers is not the solution.
Political interference in the working of the administration and the police is the root cause of uncontrolled crimes. Political interference in the Muzaffarnagar riots case tied the hands of the district administration and the police, who were in control of the situation to begin with. But, after political interference, the situation went out of control.
The solution lies in making the police free of political interference, through police reforms, which has been recommended by many panels but is gathering dust in spite of repeated directives from the Supreme Court. Politicians who misuse the police to serve their interests are reluctant to reform the police force.