SP failed in responsibility to check riots in western UP: Cong

Congress today accused Samajwadi Party of "total failure" in fulfilling its responsibility to check communal riots in western UP as a sting operation showed two police officers reportedly admitting having delayed action to contain the violence under "political pressure".

Party spokesperson Meem Afzal, at the same time, said that it was "not a Muslim or non-Muslim issue and it needs to be examined what orders were given, when cops have said certain things".

He was replying to a question about the sting operation purportedly putting a particular community in bad light over the riots when they were victims.

"The UP government has failed its responsibility. People of western UP say that this was the biggest communal riots there after 1992 (during Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid controversy). There is total failure of the the government ....Arrests should have happened much earlier. The UP government has shown complete negligence," Afzal told reporters here.

He also said that the "situation is under control now" and that it is the reponsibility of the people in the affected areas to come together and create an atmosphere of brotherhood.

When pointed out that a Congress leader also faces allegations of inciting communal violence, Afzal said that anybody irrespective of his political connection should be arrested if they are guilty.

The Congress reaction came a day after two police officers in Muzaffarnagar district were last night shifted in the wake of a sting operation by a news channel, in which they reportedly admitted to having delayed taking action to contain the violence under "political pressure".