After being released from the police custody last night, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sangeet Som told ANI here that the Mahapanchayat issue had been purposely heated up to target his party.
Criticising the Samajwadi Party (SP), Som said it was trying to divert the people's attention from the poor law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh with incidents such as the clashes that had taken place with the police on Thursday.
"I don't understand why I am only targeted again and again, because, this panchayat was called on behalf of th BJP workers.The village contains a population of Muslims and Dalits, there are both mosques and temples. But suddenly, one day the police removes all loudspeakers from there. When few ladies protest against it, then they are baton charged. The Muslims there don't have any problem with the loudspeakers," said Som.
He also said that the protesters clashed with the police only after the issue was highlighted in the media.
"SP can't tolerate honest and law abiding leaders. Whenever there is an SP Government in power, there is violence in the state, unlike BJP. It is the SP's manifesto, they want to create communal tension between Hindus and Muslims and repeat the Muzaffarnagar incident. They should work for everybody, not for Hindus or Muslims," Som added.
Yesterday, BJP Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Sangeet Som and five others were released from police custody after being detained earlier for heading a Mahapanchayat in Kanth near Moradabad to protest against the administration's decision to remove loudspeaker from a temple.
Som was one of the legislators booked and later released for inciting the last year's bloody religious clashes in Muzaffarnagar that killed about 60 people, according to reports.
BJP protesters later clashed with the police in Moradabad following the detention of party MLAs and Moradabad District Magistrate Chandrakant suffered serious injuries amid clashes.