Governor Ram Naik calls Kasganj incident shameful and 'blot', asks UP govt to ensure such incidents don't recur

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh governor Ram Naik termed the Kasganj communal clash as a “blot” on the state and asked the government to initiate measures to ensure such incidents did not recur. [caption id=“attachment_2301558” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Uttar Pradesh governor Ram Naik. AFP[/caption] The governor noted that such an incident had occurred in the state for the first time in the last 9-10 months and described it as “shameful”. In Kasganj, where the situation is tense but under control, clashes between two communities had claimed one life. At least three shops, two buses and a car were torched after a youth was killed in clashes following stone-pelting by a mob on a motorcycle rally taken out to celebrate Republic Day. “Whatever happened in Kasganj was not good. The incident there is a ‘kalank’ (blot) for UP. The government is probing the incident. It should initiate effective measures to ensure that such incidents are not repeated,” he told reporters. The Yogi Adityanath government, which stormed to power in Uttar Pradesh riding a saffron wave nearly a year ago, was recently advised by Vice-President Venkaiah Naidu to tone up  law and order in the state. Naidu advised Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to take back firearms from people as they were main cause of crime. “Those who have firearms should return weapons. I want to ask the chief minister t in Uttar Pradesh a large number of people have firearms. This is main cause of crime incidents,” Naidu had said at the first Uttar Pradesh Diwas event last week. He had said “law and order should be top priority”. On asked about the situation in Kasganj, Uttar Pradesh government spokesman and senior cabinet minister Sidharth Nath Singh said he has seen reports that shops are opening now. “The situation is returning to normal, which is a good sign,” he added. As many as 112 people were arrested and security forces personnel intensified vigil in the strife-torn Kasganj in western Uttar Pradesh. The Uttar Pradesh Police said drone cameras had been deployed for aerial surveillance and described the situation as improving. Explosives were found during house-to-house searches following which the state police chief said the stringent National Security Act (NSA) would be invoked against culprits. Under the NSA, a person can be detained without bail or trial and authorities need not disclose grounds of detention if they believe the detainee can act in a way that poses a threat to the security of the state/country or the maintenance of public order. The Yogi Adityanath-led government has stressed that the guilty would not be spared.