BJP to keep Kanth issue alive

Although the situation in the trouble-torn Kanth is back to normal, the Bharatiya Janata Party appears to be in no mood to let the state government off the hook and is planning a statewide agitation on the issue

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Kanth had witnessed large scale violence after the district administration foiled the BJP-sponsored mahapanchayat to protest alleged forcible removal of loudspeaker from a temple.

According to the state BJP leaders, the saffron party was “very upset” by the alleged police brutality and arrest of its party workers, who were on way to attend the mahapanchayat, and the alleged “conspiracy” to implicate them in false cases.

“We are not going to sit idle and will chalk out our strategy at a meeting of the party leaders from western UP scheduled next week,” said a senior state BJP leader here. The first priority of the BJP would be to ensure release of its leaders from jail, he added.

“We may decide to hold district wide demonstrations in the state to demand release of our leaders and register our protest against implicating them in false cases,” the leader said.

An angry BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said that the state government had dubbed the BJP workers as “naxalites”, which was shameful. “The government must furnish the proof also”, he remarked.

Pathak also demanded removal of the Moradabad police chief Dharmveer Yadav and accused him of working as an SP agent.

“Our agitation will continue till such police officials are removed from Moradabad”, said the BJP leader.

On the other hand, the police chief had alleged that the BJP had incited violence for political gains.
State BJP president Luxmi Kant Bajpai is scheduled to visit Moradabad next week.

BJP MLA from Sardhana in Meerut Sangeet Som, whose entry into Moradabad has been banned by the administration, has also vowed to visit the region.