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Times change, so do govts; don’t act at ruling party’s behest: Akhilesh to U.P. police
The former U.P. CM also accused the incumbent state government of not taking action against Kanpur University vice-chancellor Vinay Pathak, who has been accused in graft cases.
KANPUR Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday launched a scathing attack on the incumbent BJP government in Uttar Pradesh over the death of a businessman in police custody and the arrest of SP MLA Irfan Solanki. During his Kanpur visit on Monday, Akhilesh said that while the culprits of the Kanpur custodial death case are yet to be brought to book, police are busy framing SP MLA Irfan Solanki in “fake” cases.
After meeting Solanki in jail, Yadav said, “Sending SP leaders and workers to jail in fake cases will continue till the next elections. Irfan was set up as a part of this strategy.” Referring to state police, the SP leader said that cops must not act at the behest of the government while pointing out that times change and so do governments.
Yadav asserted that SP is firmly behind Solanki, “who has done no wrong” and has been “falsely implicated”. He further said that BJP never acted against its own MLA, who “engineered riots” in Kannauj.
On the day, the SP chief also met the family of the businessman, who recently died in police custody. “Everyone knows who has given this kind of freedom to police. The job of our police is to safeguard people. On the contrary, state residents are being killed in the custody.” Demanding a CBI inquiry into the Kanpur custodial death case, he said that the government should provide compensation of ₹1 crore to the bereaved family and a government job to the deceased’s wife.
Akhilesh also raised the incident of the Levana hotel fire in Lucknow. “Following the fire break-out, the chief minister had announced that the building would be bulldozed. I want to ask him why he hasn’t that happened yet.”
The former U.P. CM also accused the incumbent state government of not taking action against Kanpur University vice-chancellor Vinay Pathak, who has been accused in graft cases, due to his cordial relations with the CM. He said that the BJP does not believe in democratic values. “How will the state attract investments when such is the state of law and order and electricity supply here,” questioned Akhilesh
Akhilesh also accused the U.P. government of wanting to create a “police state” while adding that police have “crossed its limits”. He said, “U.P. is at the top in custodial deaths in India. Such cases have surfaced in Gorakhpur, Gonda, Bahraich, Kannauj, and Jhansi. This shows the ugly side of the police, making the people lose faith in the force.”
