Three days after the communal violence in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Monday broke his silence and blamed certain political parties for engineering the violence.
Uttar Pradesh Governor B L Joshi, who sent his report on the violence to the Centre, is said to have strongly indicted the Samajwadi Party government for not being able to defuse the communal build-up. Joshi, who is seen as an apolitical governor, stays away from the day-to-day functioning of the government and has put it under pressure. This is second time the governor has indicted the government.
Earlier, when there was a huge stampede at Allahabad during the Mahakumbh in March, he had called the Chief Minister to Raj Bhavan and sought his explanation for the incident.
However, the UP government described the Raj Bhavan report to the Centre as a routine exercise. Riots broke out in Muzaffarnagar district after the Maha Panchayat convened by a community on Saturday. The police have registered criminal cases against the BJP, BSP and Rashtriya Lok Dal leaders for holding the Maha Panchayat and inciting communal passion by their inflammatory speeches.
Prominent among those have been booked are BJP Legislature Party leaders Hukum Singh, Som Sangeet, Bhartendu and Suresh Rana and Harendra Malik of the Congress. Bhartiya Kisan Union leaders Naresh Tikait and Rakesh Tikait have been named. The CPI called the riots a communal holocaust, while the BSP reiterated its call for the President’s rule.