The Uttar Pradesh assembly witnessed uproarious scenes on Friday, when the entire opposition staged protest forcing Speaker Hridya Naryan Dikshit to adjourn the House for 90 minutes over Kasganj violence where a youth was killed on Republic Day when Hindu outfits were taking out a Tiranga Yatra.
The opposition raised the issue during the Zero Hour through adjournment notice. They demanded that a sitting judge of Allahabad High Court probe the violence in Kasganj. The government announced that the Kasganj violence would be probed by a SIT where district police will have no role.
Raising the issue, leader of Opposition and SP leader Ram Govind Chaudhary alleged that it was a preplanned incident of communal violence where saffron outfits forcibly took out a Tiranga Yatra through Muslim-dominated areas and raised provocative slogans.
Chaudhary alleged that the police let loose a reign of terror on Muslims and their shops and residences were looted and torched under police patronage. He charged that the BJP has started preparing grounds for 2019 lok Sabha poll by engineering communal riots with the aim of polarising the voters on communal lines.
Opposing the notice, Parliamentary Affairs minister Suresh Kumar Khanna said that the violence was not communal. He however said that it was an `unfortunate incident’ where a youth Chandan Gupta died of gunshot injuries.
Narrating the sequence of events, Khanna said, “Tiranga Yatra was taken out on the occasion of Republic Day which has been a tradition for the last several decades in Kasganj. The Yatra was obstructed by placing chairs on the road which led to a conflict at Baddupur crossing of Kasganj.”Rejecting the demand for a probe bya High Court judge, the minister said that a SIT will investigate the matter.
Countering the minister, the leader of Opposition said, “The BJP government has no faith in UP Police and has been referring all matters of the previous SP government to the CBI for probe. So why can the Kasganj violence issue not be referred to the same agency.’’
BSP leader lalji Verma attacked the government for its failure to control law and order and claimed that communal violence had spiked in the BJP regime.
Union Home minister Raj Nath Singh too has admitted that 195 incidents of communal violence took place in the state during the past one year,” he said.
Congress legislature party leader Ajay Kumar lallu also slammed the BJP government on the deteriorating law and order situation.
After hearing all the parties, Speaker Hridya Narain Dikshit rejected the adjournment notice. Following the protest by the opposition, the House was adjourned for 10 minutes which was later extended to 90 minutes.
SP members staged a noisy walk out of the House while the other opposition members staged noisy scenes in the Well of the House.