Violence triggers political slugfest

The Akhilesh Yadav government on Friday faced a blistering attack from Opposition parties over the Mathura violence, who questioned the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh, where elections are due the next year. The Opposition parties alleged that encroachers were enjoying political patronage.

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati said the Samajwadi Party (SP) government in the state should resign, taking responsibility for the “unfortunate and painful” incident and demanded a time-bound judicial inquiry.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sought a CBI probe into the case and claimed the incident reflected the “lawlessness” in the state. The Congress said it was time that the SP government “came out of its slumber”, but added that “there should be no politics over the dead”.

Congress spokeperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said the SP government should take steps to address the serious situation. However, he asserted that it was not the time “to score political brownie points” and efforts should be made to swiftly bring the guilty to book and provide succor to the affected.

“The BJP should remember that instead of playing politics over dead, the important thing is to ensure that peace is restored and people, who have occupied government land, are punished. Besides, murderers should be brought to book and it’s high time that the Akhilesh government wakes up from its slumber and takes decisive action,” he said.

Senior UP minister Shivpal Singh Yadav said there should be no politics over the incident. “Politics should not be done over the dead,” Yadav said, even as SP parliamentarian Naresh Agarwal said it was easy to blame the government.

Meanwhile, Governor Ram Naik, who is in Mumbai, sought a detailed report on the matter from the Chief Minister and a proper inquiry to nail the culprits.

Twenty-four people, including an SP and an SHO, were killed in the massive clash between police and encroachers that broke out in Mathura on Thursday when the police were trying to evict illegal occupants, believed to be of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi, from Jawahar Bagh on Allahabad high court orders. 

Mayawati said it was a serious incident and an inquiry by divisional commissioner was just a mere formality. “The criminal mentality of the SP government is directly responsible for violence, therefore a time-bound judicial probe should be conducted so that truth is revealed,” she said.

“The incident is painful. It is shameful for the SP government. Its policy of anarchy is responsible for this unfortunate incident,” she said. She claimed that the death of two policemen proved that due to lax policies of the government, departments, especially police, were finding themselves helpless in executing their duties. She said the biggest fault of the government was how it allowed such encroachment for two years. “Will giving ex-gratia compensate the families of two officers killed in the violence? If SP government thinks so, it is wrong,” she said.