Akhilesh Yadav hits out at BJP govt in UP over Sambhal violence

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav slammed the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday over the Sambhal violence and asked what action has been taken against the workers of the saffron party who accompanied the Jama Masjid survey team and indulged in slogan shouting.

He also questioned the need for a second survey of the mosque when the first such exercise was carried out on November 19.

According to a statement issued here, Yadav said this while talking to reporters after attending a wedding ceremony at the house of Tribhuvan Dutt, the SP MLA from Alappur in Ambedkar Nagar district.

"The BJP government is responsible for the incident that happened in Sambhal. It was done by the BJP government," the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said.

"When the survey was conducted on November 19, everyone cooperated and it was completed. What was the reason for another survey after the first one? When the survey team went again, were there no BJP workers with it?" he asked.

Yadav also asked whether the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) workers accompanying the survey team raised slogans or not.

Several video clips have gone viral on social media, in which people accompanying the survey team are seen raising slogans, he said.

"What action did police take against the sloganeering BJP workers?" Yadav asked.

Four people died and several others, including police personnel, were injured in Sambhal on Sunday after a confrontation erupted over a court-ordered survey of the city's Shahi Jama Masjid in the Kot Garvi area, following a petition claiming that a Harihar temple once stood at the site.

Regarding the recent Assembly bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, the SP chief alleged that the BJP government indulged in dishonesty by putting the administration forward.

"In the bypolls, the administration has cast more votes than the BJP workers. The BJP reached the pinnacle of dishonesty in the bypolls. It has also coached us on how to contest elections," he said.

Yadav claimed that the BJP would have lost all the seats in the bypolls, but the administration helped it register victories by being dishonest.

"Everyone saw how the administration misused power and did not allow SP voters to cast their votes. The voters were abused and threatened," he alleged. PTI ABN RC