BJP, Cong term Gorakhpur flare-up as state-sponsored riot

Lucknow, Jan 29 (UNI) Opposition BJP and Congress today charged the ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh with orchestrating communal flare-up in Gorakhpur to further its political interests ahead of the assembly poll.

While the BJP blamed the ruling party for the flare-up, Congress alleged the SP, along with ''communal forces'' had created the situation for narrow political gains.

In a statement issued here, UP congress president Salman Khurshid said political interests were driving the SP and certain communal forces to create communal divide.

Meanwhile, BJP said its legislature party leader and Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly Lalji Tandon along with state unit head Keshri Nath Tripathi would visit Gorakhpur tomorrow.

Talking to mediapersons here, Mr Tandon alleged that the communal flare-up in the eastern district was organised by the ruling party to polarise the Muslim votes ahead of the election.

''The riots have been organised to ensure that Muslims vote en masse in favour of SP candidates in the assembly election...the police has been deliberately arresting members of the majority community in a bid to appease Muslims,'' he claimed.

The BJP leader said despite the state government's assertion that the administration of the district, which witnessed the flare-up, would be changed immediately, no such orders had been issued to transfer the DM and SSP of the district.

''The trouble has spread to the neighbouring district...people are unhappy at the arrest of MP Adityanath, the successor of the Gorakhnath Peeth,'' he added.

Meanwhile, BJP vice-president and former state chief minister Kalyan Singh said the Gorakhpur riots were an indicator of ''Islamisation'' of the district administration. ''Police is a mute spectator even as rioters are killing innocents and raping women in the district,'' he lamented.

The BJP youth wing today burnt Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav in effigy in front of the Vidhan Bhawan building.

Before police could swing into action, the activists damaged roadways buses and jammed the main road to protest the arrest of Adityanath and three other BJP legislators in Gorakhpur for violating prohibitory orders.

Miscreants had opened fire on a 'baraat' procession on Friday night, in which over 24 people were wounded in Ismailpur under Kotwali police station area.

Some people, trying to escape the shootout, entered a Moharram procession nearby, leading to a clash between two groups. The situation turned tense after a wounded Raj Kumar Agrahari died at Gorakhpur Medical College.

UNI