With CM busy chasing opposition on bulldozer, jungle raj prevails in UP: Akhilesh Yadav

Lucknow, With Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath left chasing the Opposition on a bulldozer, the state has been caught in the “grip of anarchy and jungle raj”, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav alleged on Saturday. Yadav made the allegation in the wake of five members of a family found dead in their home in Prayagraj district besides a man killing his wife in a brawl and another man being done to death near his home in three separate incidents there on Friday night.

He also accused the state government of protecting criminals while dubbing the chief minister’s zero-tolerance of crime limited to the “Lok Bhawan and CM’s residence”.

“Uttar Pradesh is in the grip of anarchy and jungle raj. This has been the situation for the last five years. With his hand on the steering of a bulldozer, the chief minister is chasing the opposition while criminals protected by power are wreaking havoc outside, ” Yadav said in a statement.

“The criminal elements enjoying the state’s protection are carrying out incidents without any hesitation,” he added.

Though the SP chief did not take names, he made the remarks amid recent reports on various administrative actions of bulldozing and razing properties of his party leaders, among others.

The administrative actions include those against the properties of Bareilly’s SP MLA Sehzil Islam and some relatives of Kairana MLA Nahid Hassan.

While a petrol pump of Sehzil Islam was bulldozed in Bareilly, the Kairana district administration had demolished properties of some close relatives of Nahid Hassan, using bulldozers which many consider as a “mascot” of Adityanath’s new government.

Referring to some major crime incidents that took place recently, Akhilesh said, a miscreant shot at a jeweller in Firozabad and robbed him of a bag full of jewellery.

A boy was kidnapped and killed in Sant Kabir Nagar while in Pratapgarh miscreants fled after robbing a bullion trader, said Yadav.

In another incident in Nawabganj of Prayagraj, five members of local resident Rahul Tiwari’s family were brutally murdered on Friday night, while the ‘mangalsutra’ of a woman was snatched in Gorakhpur under Gulriha police station area, he said.

Among other crimes in the state, Yadav’s statement listed the alleged murder of a man in Banda, the thrashing of another man in Shahjahanpur, and said the lives of businessmen are in danger in the state.

“In the last 15 days, six businessmen were robbed,” the leader of the Opposition in the state assembly said, alleging that even women are “deeply troubled” in the state.

Who will invest in the state amid the collapsing law and order, he wondered.

“It seems the BJP government’s intention is not to make the state crime-free but to tarnish its pride,” he said.

In a separate statement, the Samajwadi Party said a six-member delegation of the party MLAs and senior leaders will go to Prayagraj under the direction of Akhilesh Yadav.

The delegation will look into the murders of five members of a family, including three minor girls, there, it said.

The delegation will reach Prayagraj on April 17 and meet the family members of the deceased, it added.

Referring to the incident, Akhilesh Yadav had earlier too attacked the BJP government in UP, dubbing the state as “drowned in crime”.

Replying to Yadav’s charge, a senior police official said a preliminary probe indicated that the head of the family killed its other members before committing suicide.