Uttar Pradesh Police detained Muzzafarnagar riots accused Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Sangeet Som along with other party leaders on Friday, as they were heading for a Mahapanchayat in Kanth near Moradabad.
BJP had called a Mahapanchayat to protest against the decision of the state administration to remove loudspeakers from a temple.
Reacting to this, Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury blamed the BJP for trying to instigate communal feelings for its political gain and urged upon the need handle the issue with sensitivity so that Muzzafarnagar riots are not repeated in Moradabad.
"BJP after this win is trying to instigate communal feelings for its political gain. Not just in UP but this is happening in many states. A boy was murdered in Pune. Its not good if this continues to happen. They are trying to consolidate the Hindu vote bank. Moradabad is a communally sensitive area. Any step taken must be dealt with a lot of care and thought so that what happened in Muzaffarnagar is not repeated in Moradabad," said Yechury.
However, BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain criticised the Uttar Pradesh Government for purposely trying to ruin the situation in the state.
"The Samajwadi Party (SP) government is purposely trying to ruin the situation of Uttar Pradesh. Holding meetings and panchayats peacefully is not a crime. The UP Government does not arrest criminals living freely in the state, but those who hold meetings peacefully are arrested. The UP Government is scared, and eyeing BJP, because after its win in the Lok Sabha elections, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav know that now they have only few days left, and whenever, there will be any elections they will not have any mandate and will loose," said Hussain.
Uttar Pradesh is witnessing a breakdown of law and order, specially after the biggest incident of Muzaffarnagar riots in which more than 50 people died and over 40,000 were displaced when clashes between Hindus and Muslims erupted in the prosperous sugarcane district in the state in early September 2013.
Recently the state had also seen a spate of rapes in several cities, including the rape and hanging of two girls in its Badaun district and of a minor in Moradabad.
