Former Union Minister P. Chidambaram on Friday attacked the BJP for alleged encounter killings in Uttar Pradesh and claimed that the State has become a victim of a “muscular government” after Jammu and Kashmir.
Mr. Chidambaram, who had handled the Union Ministry of Home Affairs during the UPA rule, cited news reports about 78 people being killed in “encounters” by the Uttar Pradesh Police in the first 16 months of Yogi Adityanath helming the BJP government in the State. Mr. Adityanath took charge as the Chief Minister on March 19, 2017 and the data in question was recorded between March 2017 and July 2018.
In a series of tweets, he targeted the Uttar Pradesh government for the “encounter killings”.
“It is the rule of law under the ‘muscular’ model of governance offered by the BJP. After Jammu & Kashmir, it is UP that is the victim of muscular government,” Mr. Chidambaram wrote on Twitter, reacting to news reports of such “encounters” being staged under the Yogi government.
“The culture of false encounters and killing people comes from Gujarat. Now they want to make it a national campaign. We are a rule-based country where there is a rule of law and everybody has their rights. Nobody can be killed and encounters are not sanctioned by law. It is against the basic tenets of natural justice,” said senior Congress leader Anand Sharma.
“When the history of this period is written, time will say what damage they have done to the governance in Uttar Pradesh. If encounters are the sole target of an elected government in a democracy, then God help our country,” said Mr. Sharma.