New Delhi: From calling it “brazen anarchy in the state” to demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Opposition parties on Sunday came down heavily on the BJP-led Uttar Pradesh government over the killing of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmed and his brother.
While maintaining that criminals should be given the harshest of punishment, the Congress said it should be done under the rule of law and subverting or violating the rule of law was dangerous for democracy. “Whoever does this, or gives protection to those who do such acts, should also be held responsible and the law should be strictly enforced on them. It should be our collective endeavour to ensure that the judicial system and rule of law are at all times honoured in letter and spirit,” said Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said she was shocked by the “brazen anarchy and total collapse of law and order in Uttar Pradesh”. She tweeted, “It is shameful that perpetrators are now taking the law into their own hands, unfazed by the police and media presence. Such unlawful acts have no place in our constitutional democracy.”
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi alleged that the Uttar Pradesh government had a role in the killings and demanded a Supreme Court-monitored investigation into the matter. “No officer from Uttar Pradesh should be included in the committee. This was a ‘cold-blooded’ murder,” he said, adding that people celebrating the killing were “vultures”.
Owaisi said the incident raises a big question about the law-and-order situation in the state and demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. “I have always been saying that the BJP in Uttar Pradesh is not running the government by the rule of law but by the rule of gun.”
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is the Congress’s UP in-charge, without taking any names, tweeted: “Criminals should be given the harshest punishment, but it should be according to the law of the land. Playing with or violating the rule of law and the judicial process for any political purpose is not right for our democracy.”
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said courts were there to ensure criminals get the harshest punishment, adding that “playing with law and order only gives birth to anarchy”.
Raising questions about the law-and-order situation of Uttar Pradesh, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Sanjay Raut said, “It is serious if a murder takes place in broad daylight under the supervision of the police.”
In a sharp attack on the BJP, TMC MP Mahua Moitra said “BJP has turned India into a mafia republic”. She tweeted, “Jungle Raj under BJP Yogi govt in UP. Its USP: Encounter killings, Bulldozer politics & patronising criminals. Enforce rule of law; apprehend perpetrators & punish them stringently.”
Moitra also said she could believe the BJP “got the shooting done” to “deflect attention” from repercussions of the Satyapal Malik interview in which he flagged lapses on part of the government in the lead-up to the Pulwama attack in 2019.
Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath demanded a Supreme Court-monitored probe into the gunning down of Ahmed and his brother. “What kind of politics is taking place in Uttar Pradesh and in the country? One day someone is killed and the next day someone else. It is for society to think where UP and the country are headed. The Supreme Court should take notice of it and order an inquiry,” Nath said.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Supriya Sule called Ahmed’s killing a “horrifying” incident for children and women. “We ask children to watch tv and news channels to increase their general knowledge, but the way crime was shown live on national television was ‘horrifying’ for children and women,” she said.
Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot said “such incidents can happen with anyone if there is no rule of law”. He added, “The country is watching what is happening in Uttar Pradesh.” Gehlot, however, warned mafia and gangsters active in his state that their fate could also be the same as Atiq’s.
Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal said the state administration must be taken to task if they don’t follow the law. He also invoked the killing of Atiq’s son Asad — an accused in the killing of Umesh Pal who was a key witness in the murder of BSP leader Raju Pal — in an exchange of fire with a UP STF team earlier. Sibal said, “He was a young boy (Asad), aged 19. How could it be a threat to national security? If you want to catch him, hit him on his leg, prosecute him. Why do you want to kill him?” The Umesh Pal murder was the police case against the son of the gangster-turned-politician.
Commenting on the killing, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj Jha called the head of UP administration “incompetent” and said that “it is not a murder of a person but of the process of law.”
“Bapu was killed, there was a trial, Indira Gandhi was killed there was a trial, Rajiv Gandhi was killed there was a trial, what kind of process is this… to kill an alleged goonda, goondaism is being resorted to. We are not living in the medieval ages,” Jha said.
The person who is the head of the Uttar Pradesh administration is incompetent, he said slamming Adityanath.
Agencies

  BJP, Congress

Press Trust of India