Sambhal DM asked me not to visit, says SP leader Mata Prasad Pandey

Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Mata Prasad Pandey on Saturday morning informed that the district magistrate (DM) of Sambhal called him over the phone and asked him not to visit the district amid the ongoing tensions in the area. He said that a written notice should be given to him as per the rules, saying that he cannot go to Sambhal.

"They (administration) should have given me a notice as per the rules that I cannot go there, but no written notice was given. They only talk on the telephone. They deployed the police. The Justice Commission is going there, media people are going there, will there be any unrest if we go there? This government is deliberately stopping us to hide all its work," Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly, Mata Prasad Pandey told ANI.

The senior SP leader informed that the Sambhal DM asked him not to come till December 10. Pandey said that he will decide after going to the party office.

"If I had to visit, I would have gone. But we sent the program. Sanjay Prasad (Secretary) told me to not visit (Sambhal), saying that the situation could change there. The Sambhal District Magistrate (DM) called me and asked me not to come there till December 10. I will go to the party office and decide what to do next," Mata Prasad Pandey said.

Reacting to the remarks made by Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, the senior SP leader said that they don't provoke anyone.

"We do not provoke anyone. The language that incites is used by Keshav Prasad Maurya ji. If the press can visit there, how will people get incited if I say the same thing? They should have given me a notice, but without any notice, they deployed police outside my residence. We will go to the party office and decide," Prasad said.

A 12-member delegation from the Samajwadi Party was scheduled to visit the affected area today. LoP Pandey said that they will go there to see the "atrocities caused by the Police."

"We will also meet the family members of the youth who lost their lives in the incident. Do Police ever take responsibility for their actions? ...These days Police keep both illegal weapons and the govt issued weapons. The Police use the other (illegal) weapon to fire," Pandey said.

Earlier, SP MP Ram Gopal Yadav also launched an attack against the administration in the stone pelting incident in Sambhal and alleged that the administration had deliberately created unrest.

Meanwhile, opposition members are keen to raise the issue in the House and have targeted the Yogi Adityanath government over the violence.

The survey was part of a legal process following a petition filed by senior advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain, who claimed the mosque was originally a temple.