Faced with the charge of right-wing activists repeatedly taking the law into their own hands in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday said there is “no remedy if someone makes up his mind” to blame a particular outfit.
Mr. Adityanath was responding to questions by reporters about the lynching of a Muslim man in Bulandshahr that was allegedly carried out by Hindu Yuva Vahini (HYV) activists, and the Saharanpur clash in which an MP and a senior police official were injured.
Mr. Adityanath founded HYV in April 2002.
‘No discrimination’
The CM was also asked why his warnings on the law-and-order front are not having the desired impact.
“There is no remedy if someone makes up his mind that he has to blame a particular outfit... The victims have already stated that not one outfit but dispute among themselves was the cause of the incidents,” the CM said.
“I can say with confidence that everyone will be safe in the State without any discrimination and rule of law is the priority of the government,” he said.
In Saharanpur, local MP Raghav Lakhanpal Sharma, a senior police officer and several others were injured in stone pelting between members of two communities during a rally on April 20 to mark Ambedkar Jayanti.
In Sohi village of Bulandshahr, a man was beaten to death by right-wing activists on May 2 after an inter-faith couple eloped. On Thursday, UP police’s press statement said that HYV activists were allegedly involved in the lynching incident.
Regretting the State’s poor ranking in the ‘Swachh Survekshan-2017’, with only Varanasi figuring in the list of 100 clean cities, Mr. Adityanath said that nine of the 15 most dirty districts are in Uttar Pradesh.
