Moradabad violence: BJP MLA Sangeet booked, party cries foul

Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Sangeet Som was on Sunday booked for clashes between BJP workers and police which took place in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad a couple of days ago.

The BJP leader has been named in the FIR for defying mahapanchayat ban in Moradabad and booked for conspiracy among other charges.

Som was detained on Friday near Moradabad while he was on his way to attend a mahapanchayat along with party members.

Som, who was accused of inciting Muzaffarnagar riots, was detained by the Uttar Pradesh police along with other party members.

The BJP was denied permission by the UP administration to hold the mahapanchayat. However, BJP workers marched towards the venue and were detained. BJP MPs Satyapal Singh and Nepal Singh were also detained enroute to Moradabad.

The arrest of BJP leaders had triggered a clash between the party workers and police. The police had to resort to lathi charge to disperse the crowd.

According to reports, the BJP had called for a mahapanchayat after the Moradabad administration restricted the use of loud speakers in a temple.

The mahapanchayat was called on to protest against the administration’s move and several party leaders were to attend the meet.

Meanwhile, on Sunday BJP accused Samajwadi Party of communalising the atmosphere in Uttar Pradesh in the wake of the violence in Moradabad and charged Congress with adding fuel to the 

already-charged atmosphere.

‘The Akhilesh Yadav government is acting out of frustration over his party’s defeat in Lok Sabha polls and is trying to hide its failures by flaring up communal passions now as in Moradabad,’ BJP’s media cell in-charge Shrikant Sharma said.

He alleged SP is trying to hide its own ‘failures’ on the power front, ‘deteriorating’ law and order and increased atrocities on women in the state and is ‘unfortunately working on communal lines with votebank politics in mind’. Attacking Congress, he charged ‘the party has no moral right to comment on such issues as Congress has been stoking communal passions by indulging in appeasement politics for long.’

Congress on Sunday accused BJP of creating tension in Moradabad and defended the Samajwadi Party government over police action, saying there was no other option but to take law and order measures. 

Party spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi accused prime minister Narendra Modi of remaining ‘silent’ while ruling BJP practices ‘divisive politics’ and taking steps aimed at ‘purely electoral purposes’.