BJP blames UP government's policies for continued tension

The party said that wrong policies of the state government continued to divide the western parts of UP on religious lines

The Bharatiya Janata Party Friday accused the Akhilesh Yadav government of failing to bring normalcy to riot-hit Muzaffarnagar and said government's wrong policies continued to divide the western parts of Uttar Pradesh on religious lines.

The district administration in Muzaffarnagar was repeating its mistakes in Kawaal village, which triggered communal clashes killing 62 in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining areas in September, party spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said.

"Like in Kawaal, the victims are being made the accused and this does not augur well for peace and communal harmony in the state," Pathak told IANS.

He said the state government should ensure that there is no disparity in the rehabilitation process. The guilty in the September riots should be charged in an unbiased process, the spokesman said.

"The government will have to rise above petty political considerations, affiliations, castes and communities, and discharge its duties judiciously," he said.

Violence resurfaced in Muzaffarnagar Tuesday with the killing of four people in two separate incidents. The Director general of Police Deo Raj Nagar had Thursday admitted that the incidents took place due to police's failure.

The Additional Director General of Police (Law and order) Mukul Goel has also gone on record to say that the situation in the riot-ravaged areas of western UP - Muzaffarnagar, Meerut and Shamli- never returned to normalcy after the September riots

While eight people have been arrested and 15 were booked for the recent violence, officials admit that the area was deeply divided on religious lines and that the situation continued to be very tense at the ground level.