BSP supremo Mayawati asks imposition of President’s rule in UP over Hathras, Balrampur incidents

National

Criminals, mafias and rapists are having a free run under the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led Uttar Pradesh government said Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Thursday after a gang-rape case was reported from Balrampur, following closely on the heels of the Hathras incident. She demanded that the Centre impose President’s Rule in the state as the Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led government had failed to protect the women in the state.

“After Hathras incident, I hoped the Uttar Pradesh government will take action. But a similar crime has been committed against a Dalit student in Balrampur. Under BJP’s UP government, criminals, mafias and rapists are having a free run,” Mayawati told ANI here. The BSP chief said that the incidents had shaken her to the core and therefore she had decided to talk to the media, “in an attempt to wake up the Centre if the UP government isn’t waking up.” She also raised questions on the actions taken against criminals in UP in the past few years.

“Especially the girls coming from the Dalit community are not at all safe,” she added, further condemning the attitude of police and administration with the family members of the Hathras gang-rape victim. “On September 28, I sent a BSP delegation to meet the victim’s family member. When they reached the police team kept them in the police station, they then called the victim’s mother and brother to the police station and the cops stayed constantly by their side while the delegation held talks with them,” she added. The BSP chief said that the administration not handing over the victim’s body to the family members to pay respects and performing the last rites was a very shameful incident. “If this is not jungle raj, then what is this?” Mayawati said.

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She further said that the two incidents in Hathras and Balrampur, reminded her of the Nirbhaya case of New Delhi. She also said that financial compensation, jobs being given to the victims’ family would not stop the crimes against the community and women. “I want to tell the Centre that the UP government is not waking up. Yogi Adityanath is not fit to control law and order, therefore, I want to tell the Centre that they might have made him the Chief Minister under pressure from RSS but he is not fit to run the government efficiently in UP,” Mayawati said. She said that it would be better if Yogi Adityanath is sent back to the Gorakhpur Math or to Ayodhya, where the Ram Janmabhoomi temple is being constructed, by the BJP.

“In his place, a more capable person should be made CM who can give better law and order to the UP residents. I want to tell Prime Minister that he has been chosen (as an MP) from UP only, he should take care of the state. If Yogi can’t handle UP then either make someone else CM or impose President’s rule in the state,” Mayawati said. The BSP chief further asserted that the leadership needs to be changed immediately in the state. The UP government has faced backlash after another Dalit woman lost her life due to gang rape in Balrampur district, a day after the cremation of the Hathras gangrape victim, who had succumbed to her injuries, was conducted by the administration.

Also Read: Another Hathras in UP, 22-yr old gang-raped, succumbs enroute to hospital