Amid din by oppn, govt assures guilty won't be spared
LUCKNOW, Aug. 13 -- On the second day of the Monsoon session on Tuesday, the Uttar Pradesh government assured the legislative assembly that those responsible for the vandalism of a medieval mausoleum in Fatehpur will not be spared, even as the opposition created a din over the issue.
Parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Khanna informed the House that an FIR has been registered against 10 named and 150 unidentified individuals.
Uproar continued in both the assembly and the legislative council on Tuesday, with members raising the Fatehpur incident soon after Question Hour.
Leader of the opposition Mata Prasad Pandey criticised the government over the vandalism of the mausoleum in Fatehpur, alleging a pattern under the BJP of targeting madrasas and religious sites of Muslims. On Monday, the opposition had disrupted the House, raising the issue of misbehaviour with Pandey.
Referring to the incident, he said: "It has become a custom in the BJP government to damage madrasas and mausoleums. An announcement regarding the Fatehpur mausoleum was made a week in advance and a large number of people assembled to vandalise it. Though police personnel were there, they were not in sufficient numbers. Can the government reply to this?"
Dismissing the claims of government's involvement as baseless, parliamentary affairs minister Suresh Khanna said law and order is the top priority and those taking the law into their hands will face strict action."
In the presence of chief minister Yogi Adityanath, Khanna said, "An FIR was lodged at the Kotwali police station on August 11 against 10 named and 150 unidentified accused under sections 190, 191(2), 191(3), 301, and 196 of the BNS. The accused have also been booked under the Criminal Law Amendment Act and the Public Property Damage Prevention Act." He alleged that the opposition was politicising the incident.
"Your party's office-bearer was among the vandals, but his name does not figure in the FIR," Mata Prasad Pandey alleged.
At least two dozen SP MLAs entered the well of the House, raising slogans "Nahi chalegi nahi chalegi, ye sarkar nahi chelegi." The SP members sat on the floor while the government went ahead with legislative work.
Speaker Satish Mahana urged them to end the protest. "The government has given a complete reply to your issue. The government wants to run the House, but I see some members are not interested," he remarked, also stopping a member from filming the protest.
The opposition members briefly returned to their seats at 1:20pm but resumed protesting at 1:40pm as the government tabled several reports, including the Geology and Mining Section notification, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports on Solid Waste Management in Urban Areas, the utilisation of the Central Road Fund, the Saryu Canal Project, and the welfare of building and other construction workers....
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