After Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Sangeet Som was booked for allegedly screening footage from the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots as part of a documentary in the crucial poll-bond Uttar Pradesh, Political parties like Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj party (BSP) took serious exemption on the matter.
Samajwadi Party leader Gaurav Bhatia told ANI that the Election Commission should take serious cognizance of 'habitual offenders like Som, so that they are not allowed to vitiate the atmosphere in Uttar Pradesh.
"The Samajwadi Party leader Gaurav Bhatia: I would only say that Mr. Sangeet Som is a habitual offender and he was also an accused in the Muzaffarnagar riots case. Now today the vehicle assigned to him had DVDs from Muzaffarnagar riots being distributed in the areas. An FIR has been registered and I hope that the election commission of India taking cognizance of it will ensure that people like Sangeet Som are not allowed to vitiate the atmosphere in Uttar Pradesh," he added.
Echoing similar sentiments, senior BSP leader Sudhindra Bhadoria said both the Samajwadi party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are hand in glove in order to incite communal violence.
"They (BSP and BJP) had done it in Muzaffarnagar during the last elections and this time also they want to repeat it but people of UP understands and they will defeat them in the coming election," he added.
The Meerut administration had yesterdat BJP nominee from Sardhana, Som, for alleged screening of a video, which purportedly contained clippings of "communally provocative speeches" by the sitting MLA, at a village in his constituency.
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Som has been booked for violating model code of conduct under Section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of IPC and Section 125 of The Representation of the People Act.
The BJP MLA, earlier in September last year was booked under the National Security Act in connection with Muzaffarnagar riots and had visited Bisada village of Dadri after a mob lynched a Muslim man on suspicion of consuming beef.