UP CM was 'masterly inactive' during riots: Jairam Ramesh

Akhilesh adopted a "cynical strategy" to divide voters, alleges Ramesh

In a scathing attack on Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, Congress leader and Union Minister Jairam Ramesh today accused him of being "masterly inactive" over Muzaffarnagar riots and adopting a "cynical strategy" of believing that it would divide voters.

He alleged that there was an "unholy alliance" between ruling Samajwadi Party with BJP that allowed violence to continue earlier this month.

At the same time, Ramesh underlined that he was not accusing Yadav of engineering the riots or equating him with Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi in this regard.

"I am absolutely shocked, disappointed, angry at his (Akhilesh's) masterly inactivity on Muzaffarnagar. Cynical, absolutely cynical, what he has done," the Rural Development Minister told PTI in an interview.

"I am not accusing Akhilesh Yadav of engineering the riots. I am accusing Akhilesh Yadav of sleeping when the riots were happening," he said when asked whether the UP Chief Minister had failed to fulfill his "raj dharma" like Modi during the 2002 riots in Gujarat.

Elaborating on his angst against Yadav, Ramesh said, "He is the government. He is the Chief Minister. Nobody from his government goes to Muzaffarnagar. No words of solace, no words of comfort, no acts of comfort."

Alleging that Yadav "allowed his senior ministers to make all sorts of offensive and obnoxious statements," the Union Minister said, "I think Akhilesh Yadav has simply lost it.