Sambhal violence state-sponsored, done to hide corruption, loot of votes: Akhilesh

persons were killed and several others injured as residents clashed with police during the second survey of Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal on November 24.

“Yeh danga nahi hai… prashashan ki goli se gayi hai jaan… Aaj bhi koi sachayi nahi janta ki DM aur senior officials pe dabav kya hai… Undemocratic hai, unconstitutional hai,” (It is not a riot. People fell to the administration’s bullets. No one knows the truth and no one knows the pressure on the District Magistrate and other senior officials.. This is undemocratic and unconstitutional,” the SP chief said.

Referring to the allegations of corruption made against the ministers in the Yogi Adityanath government, the SP chief said: “Their own people are making allegations of corruption. While those from Lucknow are putting the blame on Delhi people, those in Delhi are blaming Lucknow people. There are two sides of the BJP government now. One is doing injustice against the PDA and another hich is indulging in corruption… Sometimes one side gets more power, sometimes the other side. To hide this disbalance, conspiracy like Sambhal takes place,” Akhilesh said.

‘PDA’ is an acronym coined by Akhilesh and his party for ‘picchde, Dalit, alpsankhyak’ (backwards, Dalits and minorities).

The SP MP also said that the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, Mata Prasad Pandey, wanted to visit Sambhal following the violence and speak to the people there, but the BJP government imposed prohibitory orders. “However, when they (SP delegation) went for a second time, the same administration allowed them. It is not clear what the government wanted to hide,” he said.

“Jo election mein loot hui thi, Kundarki mein, Meerapur mein usko chupane ke liye bhi Sambhal jaisi ghatna hui… Inhone chunao nahi karaya, inhone police ke madhyam se vote loote hain (To hide the loot of votes in Kundarki and Meerapur Assembly bypolls, Sambhal like incident took place. They did not conduct election, instead they used the police to loot votes,” the SP chief alleged.

During the November bypolls, the BJP-led NDA won seven of the nine Assembly seats, while the SP won two. The BJP not only won six seats it contested but also managed to wrest two Samajwadi Party seats — Kundarki, Katehari — that had elected non-BJP parties for almost three decades. In Meeraupur, BJP’s ally RLD had won. The bypoll results were declared on November 24.

Demanding action against the guilty officers in Sambhal, Akhilesh said, “When the SP government will be formed, we will again order an inquiry into the Sambhal violence and take action”.

Claiming that more such Sambhal-like incidents were taking place in the state, he urged people to stay cautious. “These BJP people in power are not in favour of brotherhood. It is a ‘daraarvadi’ (divisive) party. Human life does not hold any value for them, because they only want to use it to derive political benefits… If you see BJP’s work, you will notice how ‘hridayheen’ (heartless) it is. It doesn’t have sympathy towards anyone. Many incidents are occurring in Uttar Pradesh despite the BJP’s tall claims of running a zero-tolerance government,” Akhilesh said.

Akhilesh also targeted Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath over allegations of cow slaughter incidents in UP, and said: “What is this Sanatani chief minister doing?” The SP chief also claimed that there was only “one criteria” for becoming vice-chancellor of universities in the state — “to be an RSS member”.

Milkipur to vote on Feb 5, Akhilesh says ‘will win’

Claiming that Samajwadi Party will emerge victorious in the Milkipur Assembly bypoll, the date for which was announced on Tuesday by the Election Commission, former chief minister Akhilesh Yadav said it would be the “most fair election”.

The SP chief also urged journalists to cover the by-election “with cameras” to ensure that polling is held free and fair.

The bypoll, which has been necessitated following the election of Milkipur MLA Awadhesh Prasad to the Lok Sabha, will be held on February 5.

The last date to file nominations is January 17 and the scrutiny of nominations will be done by January 18. Candidates will be able to withdraw their nominations till January 20.

In November, the Election Commission decided to not hold the by-election in Milkipur due to a pending election petition against the Awadesh Prasad. The election petition in the Allahabad High Court against Prasad was filed by former BJP MLA Baba Gorakhnath, who lost to the SP leader by a margin of over 13,000 votes in 2022. Alleging anomalies in nomination papers of Prasad’s poll affidavit, Gorakhnath had demanded fresh elections in the constituency. The High Court recently disposed of the petition, paving the way for holding the by-election in Milkipur.