Hindustan Times (Lucknow)

Jayant Chaudhary calls violence a ‘conspiracy’

- HT Correspond­ent lkoreporte­rsdesk@hindustant­imes.com ▪

AGRA: The national vice president of the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) Jayant Chaudhary on Monday termed the recent Bulandshah­r violence that claimed two lives as a state government conspiracy to create “another Muzaffarna­gar-like situation” (referring to the 2013 Muzaffarna­gar riots).

“The Bharatiya Janata Party is resorting to such tactics after finding its base shrinking in the state. This was reflected in the by-elections held in UP earlier,” he said, adding that the prolonged violence in Bulandshah­r highlighte­d the failure of the government machinery.

The RLD leader was in Agra to attend the ‘Samvidhan Samvad’, organised at the Sur Sadan hall here, as the chief guest. Interactin­g with media persons on the sidelines of the event, he said, “The state government was well aware of the huge gathering (of a religious community) in Bulandshah­r and planned to frame them in the conspiracy. A mob appeared on the scene all of a sudden and remained in the village despite their main demand being met with. They had demanded that a case of cow slaughter be registered, which was done,” said Jayant. He criticised the state government for “creating a situation where mobs were taking law and order in their hand”.

Calling the killing of inspector Subodh Kumar Singh in the violence as unfortunat­e, he said, “We are with his family in this hour of grief.”

Coming down heavily on chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Jayant said the CM had failed to uphold law and order. “The maximum cases of atrocities on Dalits are occurring in UP and the prosecutio­n rate is quite low, with many cases still pending in court,” he said. Replying to questions on Ram temple constructi­on in Ayodhya, the RLD leader said that it was only an electionti­me agenda for the BJP. “They bring it out once the election comes close,” he said.

“Demonetisa­tion and the Goods & Services Tax (GST) wreaked havoc on traders, and farmers were forced to throw away their produce. The BJP government­s in the Centre and the state have failed. The election results in five states (to be declared on Tuesday) will further strengthen the unity among opposition parties,” he added.

 ?? HT PHOTO ?? ▪ Jayant Chaudhary addressing an event in Agra on Monday.
HT PHOTO ▪ Jayant Chaudhary addressing an event in Agra on Monday.

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