Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh charged the Samajwadi Party Government in Uttar Pradesh for ‘inaction’ in controlling the Muzaffarnagar riots and termed it as a black spot on the party.
“Akhilesh Yadav was sleeping when Muzaffarnagar was burning. He is my friend and I kept meeting him but I was very sorry to say that he failed to deal with the situation and even later handled it in most insensitive way,” alleged Jairam while terming the Muzaffarnagar incident just a “poll preparations” of the BJP and the SP.
He claimed that as soon as the BJP roped in Amit Shah as incharge of the party affairs here in UP, the Congress already apprehended that both the parties will push the State into communal fire just to polarise the vote bank. “I believe poll preparations for the coming 2014 elections have started from Muzaffarnagar. It is the trailer of SP and BJP,” he charged, adding that communal polarisation would be the strategy in the State and the SP too believes that it would gain from it.
Attacking the manner in which the State Government handled the situation, Ramesh said that no one took care what was happening in Muzaffarnagar. “It was only when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh along with Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi announced their programme of visiting the riot-hit areas, Akhilesh Yadav woke up and rushed to the district just a day prior to the Congress leaders, which showed CM’s seriousness in handling such grave situation,” Ramesh claimed.
Expressing regret over the role of BJP leader Hukum Singh whom he termed as a “good friend”, Ramesh said Muzaffarnagar riots were a blot on the Akhilesh Yadav administration. “He cannot run away from his responsibility. People wanted the young CM to do something for the State, but it is unfortunate that after the Muzaffarnagar violence they cannot take him seriously,” he said.