Yogi vows to destroy mafias ‘nurtured’ by Samajwadi Party

Press Trust of India

Lucknow

Facing flak over the brazen killing of a prime witness in the 2005 case of a BSP MLA’s murder, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday accused the Samajwadi Party of nurturing mafias and vowed to destroy them.

“The mafia whose name is emerging … Is it not true that the Samajwadi Party had made him an MP… He was a mafia nurtured by the SP. Our government is working to break their back. ‘Mitti me mila denge’ (We will destroy the mafias),” Adityanath said in the Assembly.

He was speaking after Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav sought to corner him over the killing and raised questions over the law and order situation, while the opposition and treasury benches traded charges.

“They (SP) are the mentors of criminals, and they have been doing it continuously. Crime flows in their veins. They have learnt nothing except crime. The entire state knows about this, and today they are giving justification,” said a visibly agitated chief minister, who spoke for more than two hours in the Assembly while replying to the debate on the motion of thanks to the governor’s address.

He alleged that the SP was not just nurturing mafias but making them MPs and MLAs.

Chief Minister Adityanath has frequently stressed that reining in mafias and improving the law and order situation had been one of the major achievements of his government since the BJP came to power in the state in 2017.

Umesh Pal, the prime witness in the 2005 murder of Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLA Raju Pal, was shot dead outside his residence in Prayagraj on Friday, the police said. One of his gunners, who too was hit in the firing, died later.

An FIR was registered on Saturday against several people, including former MP Atiq Ahmed. The mafia-turned-politician is currently lodged in a Gujarat jail. Atiq was an SP MP from Phulpur parliamentary constituency (in Prayagraj).

When the House assembled for the chief minister’s reply to the debate on the Governor’s address at 11 am, the SP tried to raise the issue of Pal’s killing with chief whip Manoj Kumar Pandey demanding a discussion.