Don't issue hollow statements on Muzaffarnagar: BJP

Lucknow, Sept 17: The BJP on Tuesday asked the union and the Uttar Pradesh governments to stop "issuing hollow statements" on the Muzaffarnagar riots and instead work to nail the guilty.

The state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accused the Congress and the Samajwadi Party governments of paying lip service to the violence in Muzaffaranagar that left 48 dead.

Both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav Monday said the guilty would be booked, but what stopped them from doing so, state BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said.

"Both these governments have intelligence set-ups with them and police. So instead of issuing hollow statements, they should act," the spokesman said.

The spokesman questioned the divergent views emerging in the Samajwadi Party on the Muzaffarnagar clashes.

The BJP asked the union and the UP govts to stop "issuing hollow statements"

"SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav said that the violent incidents in Muzaffarnagar were caste conflicts. However, Minority Affairs Minister Azam Khan said these were the worst communal riots in India after the 2002 Gujarat riots," Pathak said.

He questioned what he called "efforts by the SP government to cover up its administrative and intelligence failure" and said such efforts will only increase the pain of the people displaced in the riots.

He said the Samajwadi Party and the Congress "should ensure that the guilty behind the riots are booked", he said.

Earlier, state BJP president Laxmikant Bajpai dared the government to arrest party legislators booked by the district administration for their alleged role in the Muzaffarnagar riots.

"Two of our MLAs accused falsely by the police are attending the monsoon session of the assembly. I dare the government to arrest them," Bajpai said, accusing the state government of falsely implicating the legislators.

IANS