Non-bailable arrest warrants were on Wednesday issued by a Muzaffarnagar court against a BSP MP, two MLAs of BJP and BSP and 11 other political and community leaders for allegedly inciting communal violence.
Senior BJP leader Hukum Singh has also been named in the FIR on the Muzaffarnagar violence but the warrant for his arrest were not issued. The police have not named any SP leader so far in the FIRs on the riots that displaced several thousands.
All the MLAs of the BJP and the BSP were present in the Assembly when a debate on the communal riots took place and Hukum Singh delivered his speech also on the riots, blaming the government for its failure.
Sources told Express that the state government facing all-round pressure for not taking action against the accused allegedly involved in the riots had planned to arrest them as soon as they came out of the Assembly since they could not be arrested within the Assembly for being privileged members and protected by the law.
The administration had deployed huge police at the entry and exist gates. But, in the meantime, hundreds of BJP workers rushed to the Assembly building threatening the government with dire consequences if it tried to arrest its MLAs.
“We will not tolerate if only BJP MLAs were arrested and the police spares another culprit Mohammad Azam Khan, who is a minister in the Akhilesh Yadav Government,” warned former MP CM Uma Bharti, who later on leading a group of her party MLAs came out of Vidhan Sabha for the BJP headquarters opposite the Assembly campus.
In view of mounting protests by the BJP, the state government seemed to have dropped its plans of arresting the MLAs late on Wednesday evening. The BJP leaders said that a proper inquiry should be conducted before taking action against anyone. They also demanded that the police should arrest Azam Khan for his alleged role in the Muzaffarnagar riots.
Speaking to the media, Uma Bharti said the Akhilesh Yadav Government, which has failed to contain the riots, was bent upon taking action against one community only and sparing the others for votes. “If the communal tension rises all over the state after the arrest of the BJP leaders, none but the Akhilesh government would be responsible for this,” she said.
Talking to Express, BJP MLAs -- Sangit Som and Bhartendu Singh -- and Hukum Singh said they were in Lucknow and let the government arrest them and they will face the consequences.