BJP launches attack over Mathura violence, asks why government was 'missing'

The BJP on Friday attacked the Akhilesh Yadav government, claiming that an intelligence failure led to Mathura violence in Uttar Pradesh which broke out on Thursday evening. They alleged that the killers of the two police officers enjoyed ‘protection’ of ruling Samajwadi Party and the incident highlighted ’lawlessness’ in the state. In a press conference, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra criticised the UP government, and said that the state administration was responsible for law and order. “Why was the government missing?,” he asked. [caption id=“attachment_2814978” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Mathura: A scene during clashes between the police and the encroachers who were being evicted from Jawaharbagh in Mathura on Thursday. PTI[/caption] Party President Amit Shah sent national secretary Shrikant Sharma to take stock of the situation after clashes broke out during a drive to evict illegal occupants in Jawahar Bagh in Mathura, leaving 24 people dead including an SP and an SHO. Sharma said killing of policemen was “height of anarchy” and alleged that the policemen were ill-prepared to control the mob as “they were under pressure from the administration to go easy as land-grabbers had links” with the ruling party. “The ruling party first had over 280 acres of land captured by these criminals. The main conspirator in the case has full protection of the Samajwadi Party. Policemen were sent to the spot with their hands tied and this is why two of them died,” he said. The clashes broke out when police were trying to evict illegal occupants of the land in Jawahar Bagh by activists, believed to be of Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi, on the directions of the Allahabad High Court. “Criminals in UP are highly-motivated due to their protection by the ruling party and that is why there have been almost 900 cases of police personnel being attacked by them under its rule,” he said and cited incidents in Tunda, Allahabad and Bareilly. “This state government has become a blot and people will wipe it away during the polls,” he said. The state is going to elections early next year. “Mathura incident is entirely because of intelligence failure. Timely assessment was not done as to how many people were present at the spot and what fire arms they possessed,” UP BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said in Lucknow. He said people present at Jawahar Bagh collected fire-arms over a period of time. “Weapons have not come overnight. Local intelligence unit keeps a close watch on small agitations, but what was it doing there,” he asked. Pathak said it should be found out as to whose political patronage the encroachers were enjoying. He said BJP had been raising the issue of “deteriorating” law and order but it fell on deaf ears. “Mathura incident has proved there is no semblance of law and order in the state,” Pathak claimed. BJP also defended Mathura MP Hema Malini , saying that she would soon reach Mathura. The party also questioned why chief minister Akhilesh Yadav did not reach the scene of the violence. Hema Malini had come under fire when she posted a series of tweets about her latest film release shortly after the clashes took place in her constituency. The violence erupted during an operation to evict members of a religious group ‘Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi’ from government land. Police had to resort to teargas to deal with the violent agitators in the Jawahar Bagh area. With inputs from PTI