Bulandshahr violence: Yogi Adityanath has said the UP police are investigating the mob violence
Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, believes that his government should be praised and thanked for whatever steps it has taken in the Bulandshahr case, in which a police officer was killed in mob frenzy over cow slaughter allegations on December 3. He also calls the incident a "political conspiracy" against his government, which, he says, has been "exposed".
"Those who are giving unnecessary statements are doing it to hide their failures, instead they should applaud the government and should thank the government," Yogi Adityanath told reporters in Lucknow today.
The chief minister was responding to criticism of his administration's response to the killing - three persons were arrested on Tuesday, all for cow slaughter. Two more were arrested for the mob violence but the main accused in inspector Subodh Kumar Singh's killing is still missing. The inspector's wife and son have questioned why, alleging that the killers are being spared because of political connections.
Having controversially referred to the mob killing as a "durghatna (accident)" earlier, Yogi Adityanath today said what happened in Bulandshahr was a conspiracy and that had been exposed.
"This is a conspiracy by the same people who were trying to take innocent lives by manufacturing illicit liquor. This was a political conspiracy and political conspiracies are plotted by cowards who cannot take a challenge head on. Feeling threatened, they are embracing each other and want to target innocents. This government will not allow it. There will be rule of law in the state at any cost. The administration has taken stern action. Those who wanted to create unrest and lawlessness by killing cows, they have been stopped," said the saffron-wearing chief minister.
Yogi Adityanath had been criticised for focusing more on the cow killing in a meeting he had with senior officials just after the policeman's murder. He had ordered strict action against those behind the cow carcasses found in a forest, which provoked the mob violence.
The man who filed the cow slaughter complaint is also the main accused in the mob killing.
Facing scorching disapproval, the chief minister met the officer's family at his house in Lucknow and assured them action.