BJP protest being restrained from meeting Rambabu kin

LUCKNOW: Bharatiya Janata Party workers on Saturday staged a demonstration and burnt the effigy of chief minister Akhilesh Yadav to protest against the arrest of several BJP leaders who had been trying to go to Ambedkar Nagar to meet the kin of Hindu Yuva Vahini leader Rambabu Gupta, murdered a few days back.
While the state government had earlier detained BJP MP from Gorakhpur Yogi Adityanath and state BJP chief Laxmikant Bajpayi, on Saturday, state general secretary Pankaj Singh-son of national BJP chief Rajnath Singh-MLA Suresh Rana and Lakhendra Singh Chauhan were held by authorities while they were heading towards Ambedkarnagar.
Singh, along with the two MLAs, was arrested at Sultanpur when he and other leaders were on their way to meet the family members of Rambabu Gupta, whose murder had caused a riot to break out in Tanda area of Ambedkarnagar district. While condemning the arrest, the BJP disrtrict unit claimed that law and order situation had crippled in the state and it was a common phenomenon whenever Samajwadi Party came to power.
The criminals are making mockery of the law and order situation in the state, the BJP alleged. Amidst anti-government sloganeering, party's district unit led by its president Manohar Singh assembled at Kaiserbagh crossing and burnt the effigy of the chief minister, the party release claimed.
Earlier, BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak had claimed that after indulging in politics in the name of graveyards and cremation grounds the SP government is now politicising compensation to the kin of those murdered. He questioned why the state government didn't announce compensation for the family of Rambabu, leading to outbreak of violence, though adequate compensation was given in other cases. Besides, when name of a ruling party MLA has cropped up in the murder of Gupta, why was the state government hesitant in recommending a CBI inquiry, said Pathak, adding that differential treatment corroborates Muslim appeasement policy of the state government.
The BJP further asked that even after seven days of Rambabu's murder, the authorities have not arrested anyone or take action against anybody. Condemning Singh's arrest, he said why was the state government not allowing BJP leaders to know the truth behind the murder of Rambabu and if there was more to it than meets the eye.