Mathura violence tars UP government

24 people, including a station house officer and a superintendent of police, were killed in clashes between police and armed members of a cult in the heart of Mathura on Thursday night.

With elections to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly likely by early-2017, the incident gave rivals of the ruling Samajwadi Party a chance to point at the poor law and order situation in the state.

Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati demanded that the Akhilesh Yadav-led government in Lucknow should quit. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) asked for a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the court-ordered anti-encroachment drive that went horribly wrong and said the incident reflected the "lawlessness" in the state. In what could indicate the shape of political alliances in the state in the near future, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said it was time the Samajwadi Party government "came out of its slumber" but added that the BJP should not play politics over the dead.

Words were also not minced in pointing out that those who had occupied the government land in Mathura had the blessings of ministers in the UP government. BJP National Secretary Shrikant Sharma alleged: "The main conspirator in the case has the full protection of the Samajwadi Party. Policemen were sent to the spot with their hands tied and this is why two of them died." Senior UP minister Shivpal Singh Yadav said there should be no politics over the incident.

The anti-encroachment drive in Jawahar Bagh had been mounted following a high court order on a public interest litigation to get the occupied land vacated. But the police were attacked by armed squatters under the banner of the Azad Bharat Vidhik Vaicharik Kranti Satyagrahi. Station House Officer (SHO) Santosh Kumar Yadav was killed on the spot. Mathura Superintendent of Police (City) Mukul Dwivedi succumbed to injuries later in the night. The group leader, Ram Vraksha Yadav, is still at large.