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Uttar Pradesh : Politics warms up over law and order |
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With Uttar Pradesh due to have Assembly elections early next year, the ‘bad’ law and order situation in the state is becoming a major issue. Representatives of the Samajwadi Party, which is ruling in Uttar Pradesh and the Bahujan Samaj Party and the BJP, which are in the opposition met President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam last week to put across their view point on the issue.
The Samajwadi Party delegation met the President on Friday, Dec. 8 and demanded the recall of Uttar Pradesh Governor T.V. Rajeshwar, alleging that he was conspiring against the Mulayam Singh Yadav government in the state in connivance with the Congress. The delegation consisting of SP members of Parliament submitted a memorandum that the Governor be recalled as his actions did not befit the constitutional position he held. It alleged that the Governor had converted the Raj Bhavan into Congress headquarters. Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh led the delegation.
The same day the BSP chief Mayawati met President Kalam at Rashtrapati Bhavan and demanded dismissal of the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government alleging that Uttar Pradesh was being run by mafia and criminal elements. Mayawati said there was complete chaos and anarchy in the state leading to a complete constitutional breakdown. A memorandum submitted by Mayawati to the President said that the Chief Minister was leading a frontal attack on the state Governor by using unparliamentary language against him in public meetings.
A BJP delegation led by the party’s Deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha, Sushma Swaraj met President Kalam on December 3 and appealed for invoking Art. 356 to dismiss the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government. A memorandum submitted by the delegation said that it will not be possible to hold free and fair elections in the state if the present government continues in office.
On December 3, Governor T.V. Rajeshwar met Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil in New Delhi to apprise him of the law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh. The Governor later met President Kalam on Monday, Dec. 4 where he is learnt to have apprised him of the law and order situation in the state.
Samajwadi Party chief and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, on his part, has alleged that his government was being attacked by vested interests in the name of law and order. He warned the Centre of serious consequences if his Government is toppled.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi during her visit to Amethi Lok Sabha constituency on Monday, Dec. 4, attacked the Mulayam Singh Yadav Government saying the law and order is virtually non-existent in the state. She also blamed the state government for slowing down industrial development in Rae Bareli.
Temple issue to be BJP’s trump card
The BJP which is hoping for a turn around in its political fortunes, is planning to make the construction of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya the centre point of its strategy during the coming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh. The party said on Wednesday, Dec. 6, anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, that no power on earth could prevent the nation from constructing the Ram Temple in Ayodhya. BJP parliamentary party spokesperson Vijay Kumar Malhotra said, “the pseudo secularists want the election in UP to be held in the name of Ram and Babar. We have no problem.”
The functioning of both Houses of Parliament was affected on Dec. 6 over the demolition of the Babri Masjid 14 years ago. While no business was transacted in the Lok Sabha, in the Rajya Sabha it was the same situation after the question hour. The Lok Sabha after mourning the death of two former MPs witnessed slogans shouting by BJP and Shiv Sena members of pro-Mandir slogan and the ruling benches along with the Left parties and the Samjawadi Party countering them with demands for action against those who pulled down the Babri Masjid. Through the din, the Speaker got papers listed for the day tabled. Ultimately, the House was adjourned for the day.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Priyaranjan Das Munshi attacked the BJP leadership on Dec. 6 for manipulating evidence to delay justice in the Babri Masjid demolition case. He hinted that no further extension would be given to the Libranhan Commission which is probing the demolition of the Babri Masjid. The Minister said the government hopes that the Commission would submit its report by the expiry of its extended tenure on December 31, 2006.
Reports say that the one-man panel, one of the country’s longest running commissions, is currently preparing its report on the sequence of events leading to the razing of the Babri Masjid by a Hindu mob on December 6, 1992.
Meanwhile, a special court in Rae Bareli has cleared the way for examination of witnesses in the Babri Masjid demolition case on Jan. 11, 2007. It set aside the defence counsel’s application questioning the CBI’s competence to prosecute the accused who included leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani. Other accused include BJP leaders Murli Manohar Joshi and Vinay Katiyar, BJP rebel Uma Bharti and Vishwa Hindu Parishad leaders, Vishnu Hari Dalmia, Ashok Singhal, Acharya Giriraj Kishore and Sadhvi Ritambhra.
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