It is shameful that the CM didn’t visit Faizabad riot victims: Rihaai Manch
Rihaai Manch strongly condemned the irresponsible attitude of the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav towards violence in Faizabad. Even after a week of the incident he has not visited the area. After visiting the victims, Rihaai Manch members conclude that the carelessness shows the lack of commitment of the government towards the protection of minorities. The government claims to bring the criminals to book but fails to meet and sympathise with the bereft, instead, innocent Muslims in Bhadarsa are being implicated in false cases. They blamed the state government of appointing a party person, Manoj Jaiswal, a Hindu right-wing man to investigate the riots. The Rihaai Manch representatives also said that the reason why Yadav was not visiting Faizabad was that the role of his party members in the incident is clear and the victims will raise questions about the party’s involvement. Rajiv Yadav said the riots were aimed at communal polarization and reviving BJP’s innings in the region. Even, the current DGP is a man who played an instrumental role in the Babri demolition by giving shelter to Hindu right-wing workers in Kanpur whose role was investigated by the Justice IS Mathur commission. The findings of the report submitted by the commission in 1998 have still not been made public by the ‘secular’ SP government, let alone taking punitive action against him. Instead, the government installed him in an important post and the result is nine riots within a year of him taking office.  Human rights activists, comparing Modi and Yadavs said the Yadavs were even worse as Modi did anti-Muslim activities to win elections while Yadav came to power on Muslim votes.
CM Yadav had claimed that the riots were a conspiracy by the opposition parties, failing to answer why the police didn’t clamp down on the culprits in the hours-long arson, and, also that SP minister Shailender Kumar was found guilty of the Asthan, Pratapgarh incident where-in 45 Muslim homes were set on fire. The activists said his incompetence raises serious questions about his leadership potential.
The investigative team of Rihaai Manch will include intellectuals, journalists and human-rights activists and will visit the riot victims and come out with a report shining light on SP’s role in the violence in Faizabad.