The riots, coupled with the SP leader’s allegations against the BJP, add another layer of complexity to the political landscape of Uttar Pradesh
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — Akhilesh Yadav, chief of the Samajwadi Party (SP), has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members of orchestrating communal riots in Uttar Pradesh’s Bahraich District earlier this month. He also drew a striking parallel to the actions of the Nazi regime under Adolf Hitler. According to Yadav, the rioters involved in the violence were given a “free hand” much like those under Hitler’s rule, implying state complicity or negligence in controlling the situation.
Talking to reporters at the party’s state headquarters in Lucknow on Tuesday, he said, “If anyone did the work of rioting in Bahraich, it was BJP leaders who were involved in it. Their MLA is filing FIR against own party workers for conspiring to cause riots.”
“A video is also going viral. I want to congratulate the journalist who mustered the courage to get information from the hidden camera video that (during the violence in Maharajganj of Bahraich) the police administration was not present on the spot for several hours and they (rioters) were given a free hand,” the SP chief was quoted by PTI as saying.
“This is how Hitler used to work. Hitler used to send his party workers wearing police uniforms to the front. The police were removed and riots were allowed to happen,” he claimed.
Yadav claims that the communal violence in Bahraich was not a spontaneous outbreak but rather orchestrated by local BJP members to instigate unrest and polarisation in the region. He asserts that the ruling party is using such tactics to fuel communal divides, which could help it politically by consolidating a particular voter base.
The former chief minister alleged that the administration, under BJP rule, had failed to curb the violence and that law enforcement authorities were either complicit or turned a blind eye to the unfolding chaos. This lack of intervention, he stated, mirrors how rioters were emboldened and supported by the Nazi regime under Hitler.
Alleging misuse of the administrative machinery to create disturbances in the by-elections of nine assembly seats of the state, Yadav said, “People of PDA (backward, Dalit and minority) family have all united.”
Taking the example of Ambedkar Nagar, he said the district magistrate there had become the district president of BJP and was looking for pradhans and ration shop owners and threatening them.
The communal violence in Bahraich, coupled with Akhilesh Yadav’s serious allegations against the BJP, adds another layer of complexity to the political landscape of Uttar Pradesh. While the accusations have yet to be fully investigated or substantiated, they contribute to an ongoing narrative of communal polarisation in the state. As Uttar Pradesh moves towards future elections, these tensions may play a significant role in shaping the state’s political strategies and outcomes.
