With the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan falling on August 17, the Akhilesh Yadav-led SP Government in the state has been pulling out all the stops to restore normalcy in the violence-torn Bareilly city, which had witnessed communal riots last month.
Maintaining peace in the area has become a major headache for the state government. In fact, prohibitory orders had been clamped in Bareilly city in the wake of the violence that claimed three lives and left scores injured.
Bareilly is the third city after Mathura and Kunda town in Pratapgarh to have witnessed communal riots since the SP Government took over the reins of power. Already, the administration led by the youngest Chief Minister to rule the state, has come under fire over its failure to maintain law and order as well as to ensure communal amity.
The Opposition, mainly the BSP and the BJP, has mounted a scathing attack on the SP Government over its failure to deal with the simmering communal tensions in different parts of the state. And the Opposition bid to visit the riot-affected areas of the city was foiled by the district administration. Senior minister Shivpal Yadav, who is also the CM’s uncle, meanwhile, has blamed the BJP for allegedly engineering the riots in the state.
Trouble began in Bareilly city on July 22, after the Kanwarias fought a pitched battle with the Muslims who had objected to loud music being played at the time of “roza Iftar”. Even as the situation was slowly returning to normal, another outbreak of violence erupted in the city on August 11, dampening the hopes of the district administration for early lifting of the ban orders. It also resulted in injuries to several people and massive loss of property. The locals, meanwhile, are at their wits’ end having been forced to put up with the curfew, which has remained in force for the past 25 days.
Talking to Express, SSP, Bareilly, Satyendrabir Singh said that he had ordered the lifting of the curfew orders in the four police circles from 6 am to 11 am on Thursday and there were no untoward incidents reported during the period.