Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav blamed the “dangerous policies” of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party for the mob violence in Bulandshahr earlier this week, saying that panicked by its shrinking base, the saffron party was fanning communal passions.
“The Bulandshahr incident is the result of the ‘thoko niti’ (hit policy) of the state government,” the former Chief Minister said.
Akhilesh warned the people to beware of the activities of the BJP and its leaders as they had mastered the art of confusing people and fanning communal passions and hatred.
The SP chief said that the BJP was pumping in money everywhere to win the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, but the hard work of the SP cadre would ultimately see the samajwadi candidates win in large numbers.
Meanwhile, the Samajwadi Party on Saturday attacked the UP government for Bulandshahr violence, calling Yogi Adityanath the “most incompetent Chief Minister” and accusing him of trying to fan communal passions in the state.
SP spokesman Abdul Hafiz Gandhi targeted Yogi Adityanath for his statement on the Bulandshahr violence in which he termed the flare-up as an “accident”. “This shows the insensitive attitude of the Chief Minister towards such a grave situation,” he added.
Abdul Hafiz Gandhi said it also showed how callous the UP Chief Minister was in treating an incident in which two persons, including a police inspector, were killed.
“The Chief Minister is blatantly polarising the polity in the state ahead of the Lok Sabha 2019 elections,” the SP leader said.
He also pointed out how neither the government nor the police were interested in arresting prime accused Yogesh Raj, who was named in the First Information Report (FIR).
“The message is clear from the top that no harm would come to the BJP cadre, its affiliates and its ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, even if they take law into their hands,” he added.
The SP spokesman also said that the talk of development and slogans like ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ were hollow and the agenda of the BJP government was to divide society on religious lines.
The state government is under attack from various quarters for its failure to arrest Bajrang Dal district convenor Yogesh Raj. He is said to be responsible for creating chaos in the name of alleged cow slaughter and for inciting violence. Out of 25 accused listed in the FIR, nine have been arrested so far.