Skip to main content

Ignoring law and order, 'insecure' Yogi govt preoccupied in fighting opponents

President Ram Nath Kovind
By Sandeep Pandey*
One would wonder why after such a show of triumphalism at the foundation laying ceremony of grand Ram temple on August 5, in Ayodhya the Uttar Pradesh government would stoop so low to put a lock outside the Aam Admi Party office in Lucknow. What makes it feel insecure? 

After all, AAP is an outsider in UP politics. The UP government seems to have been unsettled by comments made by AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh who has described the absence of President Ram Nath Kovind from the foundation laying ceremony for Ram temple in Ayodhya as Bhartiya Janata Party’s anti-Dalit character. Because of this he was complimented by Dalit and Other Backward Caste leaders.
Leader of Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party, representing the OBC Rajbhar community, which was in alliance with BJP during Narendra Modi’s first term as Prime Minister, Om Prakash Rajbhar even gave an indication of a future alliance of his party with AAP.
Sanjay Singh also said that there was anarchy in the state. Police has no control over criminals and government has lost control over police. What seems to have rattled the UP government most was its description as a pro-Thakur government by Sanjay Singh. Incidentally both Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and Sanjay Singh belong to this caste.
If we consider the incidents in the state over the recent past, post-Yogi government’s grand pronouncements after over a hundred criminals were eliminated in encounters, these included abduction of Sanjit Yadav on June 22 in Kanpur, payment of Rs 30 lakh as ransom by his relatives to abductors in the presence of police, with his murder taking place even before this payment was made by throwing his body in Pandu river.
Then, there was killing of 8 policemen on July 3 by dreaded Vikas Dubey, followed by killing of Vikas Dubey on July 11 and 6 of his colleagues in encounters with police.
On August 6 a six years old girl was kidnapped and raped in Hapur. She is now undergoing treatment in Meerut. This was followed by an incident on August 7 when after a 16 years old girl was molested by her nephew Anup Yadav. When a complaint was sought to be registered at Govind Nagar police station in Kanpur, she was asked by inspector Anurag Mishra to dance before him before he registered a complaint.
On August 9, Mukhtar Ansari’s shooter Rakesh Pandey was gunned down in Lucknow. Pandey was described as an accused in BJP MLA Krishnanand Rai’s murder case in which he was acquitted by court.
On August 10, Sudiksha Bhati, student from United States who had returned home in Bulandshahar due to lockdown, died after an alleged incident of harassment as she fell from a motorcycle in Greater Noida.
On August 11 former BJP president of district Bagpat Sanjay Khokhar was murdered when he was on morning walk. Around the same time, BJP MLA Rajkumar Sahyogi slapped SHO of Gonda Police Station in Aligarh after he entered the police station with his supporters and ensuing scuffle after which the SHO was suspended and SP, Rural, was transferred under the pressure of BJP MP Satish Gautam.
Sanjay Singh
On August 13, 12 years old Kartik of Umarpur village in district Shamli was murdered and his naked body found in a field. On August 14, the body of 13 years old girl was found in a field in Pakariya village of Lakhimpur Khiri after rape and murder. On the same day a 17 years old girl was kidnapped, raped and give cigarette burns by two men in Gorakhpur. 
On 14 August itself Dalit Gram Pradhan Pappu Ram of Basgaon village was murdered in Azamgarh by upper caste men and then an 8 year old boy crushed to death by a police jeep in the ensuing melee.
And on August 16, advocate Rajeshwar Pandey was murdered on in rural Gorakhpur by his relative in a land dispute, and the same day Dayashankar Mishra and son Anand, was lynched to death by neighbours in a public gathering, called to resolve the land dispute by some lawyers in rural Pratapgarh.
These are just an indication that the law and order has gone for a toss in UP.
An important reason why the law and order has crumbled in UP is because the government was busy targeting its political opponents by lodging false cases against them.
These included sending to jail after filing false cases against Advocate Mohammad Shoaib, UP state President of Socialist Party (India), spokesperson of All India People’s Front and retired IPS officer, SR Darapuri, Congress worker Sadaf Jafar and hundreds of activists and common citizens who were involved in anti-Citizenship Amendment Act and National Register of Citizens movement.
Additionally they were sent recovery notices for damages to public and private property during protests even before charges were proved in a court of law.
Then, UP Congress President Ajay Kumar Lallu was sent to jail on charges of having provided false papers related to registration of some vehicles that his party had offered to UP government to transport migrant workers during lockdown. President of UP Congress minority cell Shahnawaz Alam was sent to jail later for his participation in anti-CAA, NRC protests.
Also, amidst lockdown, the UP police travelled from Ayodhya to Delhi to serve notice to “The Wire” editor Siddharth Varadarajan as he had raised question on UP government’s willingness to give nod to the Ram Navami fair in Ayodhya amidst lockdown.
And now there are cases against Sanjay Singh for promoting enmity among communities and putting lock on AAP office in Lucknow.
These incidents betray the preoccupations of UP government.
This is now a trend in BJP run governments. They are ever ready to curb fundamental right to freedom of expression by initiating police actions to terrorise their political opponents at slightest of provocation.
Yogi Adityanath must understand that the oft repeated prodigal utopia of Ramraj will not come by building a temple in Ayodhya. As his ‘thok do’ (kill criminals in encounters with police) policy has quite clearly failed he needs to seriously deliberate on how his government can bring some semblance of law and order in the state by ending the prevalent anarchy.
---
*Magsaysay award winning social activist, vice president, Socialist Party (India)

Comments

TRENDING

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Central pollution watchdog sees red in Union ministry labelling waste to energy green

By Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran*  “Destructors”, “incinerators” and “waste-to-energy (WTE) incineration” all mean the same thing – indiscriminate burning of garbage! Having a history of about one and a half centuries, WTE incinerators have seen several reboots over the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. 

First-of-its-kind? 'Eco-friendly, low cost' sewage treatment system installed in Gujarat

Counterview Desk Following the installation of the Unconventional Decentralized Multi-Stage Reactor (UDMSR) for sewage treatment, a note on what is claimed to be the  first-of-its-kind technology said, the treated sewage from this system “can be directly utilized for agricultural purposes”, even as proving to be a “saviour in the times of water crisis.”

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Indo-Bangla border: Farmers facing 'illegal obstacles' in harvesting, transporting yields

  Counterview Desk  In a representation to the chairperson, National Human Rights Commission, human rights defender Kirity Roy, who is secretary, Banglar Manabadhikar Suraksha Mancha (MASUM), has said that Border Security Force (BSF) personnel are creating "illegal obstacles" for farmers seeking to harvest their ripened yields and transport them to the market in village Jhaukuthi of Cooch Behar district.

Wasteland, a colonial legacy, being used to 'give away' vast tracts to Ratnagiri refinery

By Fouziya Tehzeeb* William D’Souza, a 55-year old farmer from Kuthethur, Mangalore, was busy mixing cattle feed when we arrived at his doorsteps. Around 25 km from the bustling city of Mangalore, Kuthethur is a lush green village with thick vegetation. On the way to William’s house the idyllic view gets blocked by the flares and smoke arising from the Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL).

'Flawed' argument: Gandhi had minimal role, naval mutinies alone led to Independence

Counterview Desk Reacting to a Counterview  story , "Rewiring history? Bose, not Gandhi, was real Father of Nation: British PM Attlee 'cited'" (January 26, 2016), an avid reader has forwarded  reaction  in the form of a  link , which carries the article "Did Atlee say Gandhi had minimal role in Independence? #FactCheck", published in the site satyagrahis.in. The satyagraha.in article seeks to debunk the view, reported in the Counterview story, taken by retired army officer GD Bakshi in his book, “Bose: An Indian Samurai”, which claims that Gandhiji had a minimal role to play in India's freedom struggle, and that it was Netaji who played the crucial role. We reproduce the satyagraha.in article here. Text: Nowadays it is said by many MK Gandhi critics that Clement Atlee made a statement in which he said Gandhi has ‘minimal’ role in India's independence and gave credit to naval mutinies and with this statement, they concluded the whole freedom struggle.

CAA disregards India's inclusive plural ethos, 'betrays' ideals of freedom struggle: PUCL

Counterview Desk    "Outraged" at the move of the Central government to implement the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 (CAA 2019) weeks before the election, the top rights group, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), has demanded that the law be repealed. 

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Sections of BSF, BGB personnel 'directly or indirectly' involved in cross border smuggling

By Kirity Roy*  The Border Security Force (BSF) of India and the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) of Bangladesh met for 54th Director General level meeting at Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 5th to 9th March, 2024 to discuss on minimizing killings at border area, illegal intrusion, trafficking of drugs and other narcotics, smuggling of arms and ammunitions and other crimes at bordering areas. Further, the summit had an agenda to discuss on overall development in 150 yards area at both sides of the border and design an activity plan for the same.