UP turned into 'danga pradesh': BSP

The Samajwadi Party was conspiring to encourage communal forces in order to strengthen its vote bank, alleged Leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha and a senior BSP leader, Swami Prasad Maurya.

Referring to the five years of BSP rule, Maurya said,"Not a single riot took place despite challenges whereas they had been common in SP, BJP and Congress governments."

"SP is conspiring to strengthen communal forces to divide the society on communal lines for vote bank politics," Maurya told newspersons here.

"This goes on to prove that it were not the Hindus or Muslims who indulged in it but they take place at the instigation of governments," he said.

Terming the UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav as the "most unsuccessful chief minister in the state in the 65 years," Maurya said that though he (Akhilesh) claimed that some vested interests were out to harm the communal atmosphere, he has not yet made their names public.

"Such forces should be identified after a probe and strict action should be ensured against them," Maurya said alleging that the government is insensitive towards over a dozen incidents of riots, which has left about 12 people dead in the past seven months since it came to power.

"The recurrence of these incidents proved that the government has failed to check such elements and it is not just 'jungle raj' but the state has also turned into 'danga pradesh' (riot state)," Maurya said.

Senior BSP leader Naseemuddin Siddiqui alleged that communal tension started with the SP coming to power and gained momentum ever since PWD minister Shivpal Singh Yadav visited Israel recently.

"Everyone is aware about Israel's relations with Muslims ...The responsibility of these riots is on Yadav, his party and government," Siddiqui said.