Congress slams U.P. government over encounter deaths

Former Union minister P. Chidambaram on Friday slammed the BJP government in Uttar Pradesh for alleged encounter killings and asserted that the State had become a victim of a “muscular government” after Jammu and Kashmir.

Mr. Chidambaram, who had overseen the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, referred to media reports that said 78 people were killed in encounters by the Uttar Pradesh police in the past 16 months.

“Is this the rule of law under the Constitution of India? It is the rule of law under the ‘muscular’ model of governance offered by the BJP. After Jammu & Kashmir, it is UP that is the victim of muscular government,” Mr. Chidambaram said in a series of tweets.

“This culture of false encounters and killing people comes from Gujarat,” said senior Congress leader Anand Sharma, reacting to news reports of encounters under the government headed by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in U.P. “Now they want to make it a national campaign. We are a rule-based country, where there is a rule of law and everybody has their rights. Nobody can be killed and encounters are not sanctioned by law. It is against the basic tenets of natural justice,” he said.

Reports said that the U.P. Police had recorded more than 3,000 encounters in 16 months, in which at least 78 criminals had been killed.

“When the history of this period is written, time will tell what damage they have done to governance in the State of U.P.” asserted Mr. Sharma. “If encounters is the soul target of an elected government in a democracy, then God help our country.”