Democracy threatened under Yogi Adityanath: Akhilesh

Lucknow: Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday said that democracy was threatened in Uttar Pradesh under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath as the government led by him was “out to destroy all democratic norms” and muzzle dissenting voices.

The former Chief Minister also raised questions on what he called the “poor” law and order situation in the state after the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power, pointing out how Vice-President M. Venkaiah Nadu on Wednesday had asked the state to pay attention to law and order in Uttar Pradesh.

He cited a double murder committed in broad daylight in Meerut on Wednesday and said ever since the BJP government had come to power in March 2017, law and order had collapsed.

Akhilesh Yadav said a Samajwadi Party delegation had met Governor Ram Naik on Wednesday to apprise him of “spiralling” crime and “poor” law and order in the state.

Claiming that there was no recourse for redress against what was happening in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party leader said people were “confused as to which person or institution they should go to and petition”.

“State officials are not bothered about public welfare, and are busy buttering their bosses and political masters” he added.

Akhilesh Yadav accused the Yogi Adityanath government of “hounding” his party’s workers and framing them in cases.

“Police scanned over 19,000 cell phone calls to find out who dumped potatoes outside the Chief Minister’s residence in high-security zone here but were not acting on a photograph that shows a prominent BJP leader in company of three mafias in Firozabad,” he said.

IANS