Sign in

Bahraich riots pre-planned; BJP has handcuffed police, says Akhilesh

Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP of orchestrating riots in Bahraich for political gain, claiming police pressure and manipulation of nominations in upcoming bypolls.

Updated on: Oct 23, 2024, 07:56:10 IST
By , Lucknow
Share
Share via
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • linkedin
  • whatsapp
Copy link
  • copy link

Launching a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday alleged that the recent riots in Bahraich district were “pre-planned” by the ruling party so that it could gain mileage from them in the November bypolls in the state.

Samajwadi party president Akhilesh Yadav speaks to media persons at the party office in Lucknow on Tuesday. (Deepak Gupta/HT)
Samajwadi party president Akhilesh Yadav speaks to media persons at the party office in Lucknow on Tuesday. (Deepak Gupta/HT)

The SP chief also alleged that police were working under extreme pressure under the BJP government. He accused the district magistrate of Ambedkar Nagar of working like a ‘BJP worker’ and threatening local leaders.

In an interaction with media persons at the SP office here, the party chief rued, “The BJP has duped the PDA (pichre (backward classes), Dalit and alpashankhak (minority)) people socially and politically, and now the PDA family has come together.

“What happened in Bahraich was pre-planned by people in the BJP. It was done in the same way in which Hitler operated. This violence and riots were carried out to deviate people from the core issues of inflation and unemployment. The BJP doesn’t have any answer to the questions of the people. Law and order have deteriorated: a woman cop met with an incident in Kanpur (referring to the alleged rape of a woman constable in Kanpur recently), and stolen goods are being recovered from the house of cops,” stated Yadav.

He added: “The district magistrate of Ambedkar Nagar is acting like a BJP district president. He has been threatening the local kotedars and village heads. Is this what was taught to him during IAS training?”

Speaking on the alleged ‘pressure’ on the police force in U.P, the former CM said, “A former DGP of U.P. has been saying that police were working under extreme pressure and they are unable to take any action against the real culprits, and if they take action against rioters then they are suspended. Just imagine that a former DGP is saying that. It seems that the BJP has handcuffed our police.”

Alleging that a candidate was intentionally given wrong nomination form, he said, “In Kanpur, officers gave wrong forms to our candidate so that later they can reject the nomination. We are going to lodge a complaint in this regard with the election commission as well. The BJP people are restless and are anxiously trying to look for an alternative for the PDA, which they can’t.”

On Tuesday morning, the SP chief posted a video on X and wrote, “Shame on such BJP politics and the BJP’s hunger for power, which conspires to incite riots in the midst of the brotherhood of the country for politics. Every day new revelations are being made in the case of Bahraich violence, due to which the BJP is not able to show its face. BJP MLAs themselves are filing FIRs against BJP members for conspiracy, and the rioters are revealing the truth in front of hidden cameras.”

“The few supporters and voters of the BJP are now ashamed to see this conspiratorial and violent form of the BJP. The party has used the sentiments of its supporters by misleading them to save and maintain its power. The truth is that the BJP is conspiring against its own people,” Akhilesh wrote in the post.