Ahead of the Muzaffarnagar riots anniversary which is just a couple of days away, the Narendra Modi government has accorded ‘Z Plus’ security cover to BJP MlA Sangeet Som, an accused in the riots, apprehending threat to his life.
However, political parties have opposed the move claiming that such act of the government was a direct threat to the country’s secular fabric. State government also said that the act of the Centre was solely there own decision and the state government was not consulted over the issue.``Though power for forwarding Z Plus security cover to anyone rests with State government but Central government had neither sought any report from us before giving security to Som nor had we dispatched any such recommendations to them”, claimed home secretary, Kamal Saksena, while talking to media persons.
A state government official here also said that a ‘Y’ category security had already been given to the BJP MlA Sangeet Som on the directives of the Allahabad High Court.
According to sources, the Z Plus category security has been provided by the Centre to Som following inputs from Intelligence Bureau(IB). The BJP MlA was accused of instigating riots in Muzaffarnagar and its adjoining areas by uploading a controversial video. He was also arrested under the National Security Act(NSA) but was acquitted by the High Court.
The Muzaffarnagar riots started after two cousins were lynched by a mob who killed a youth for allegedly harassing their sister in Kaval area on August 28. A total of 68 people were killed and over 50,000 rendered homeless in the riots. Officials maintained that the decision of the Central government was purely on merit and not due to any political reasons. They claim that IB has intercepted several phone calls where terrorist organizations were planning to kill Som. Now the BJP MlA would get security by Central paramilitary forces.
Samajwadi Party spokesperson and state minister Rajendra Choudhury alleged that such act by the Centre proved that they are giving patronage to the criminals, who was responsible for the riots. ‘Such instance will set a wrong precedence as criminals would not seek protection by the Central government,’ he stated. UP Congress has also criticised that act of the Centre, and its spokesperson Amarnath Agarwal said,’ how could the government provide such stringent security for a person who has been charged with instigating riots.’
However, BJP spokesperson Vijay Bahadur Pathak has supported the decision of the Centre saying that it was taken on threat perception to the life of the party MlA. ``Opposition parties are just trying to create confusion for their vote bank politics,’ he said while adding that no court has punished Som so far in the riots and even High Court had withdrawn NSA invoked against him. He said SP and other political parties are raking up the issue just to appease a section of the society.