Akhilesh not allowed to enter Sambhal
Samajwadi Party leaders, including party chief and Lok Sabha MP Akhilesh Yadav, were barred from entering Sambhal as the administration on Saturday extended the ban on the entry of “outsiders and public representatives” in the violence-hit district till December 10.
Sambhal District Magistrate Rajendra Pensiya said, “No outsider, social organisation or public representative can enter the district without seeking the permission of the competent authority till December 10.”
The move drew criticism from the SP chief, who slammed the Uttar Pradesh Government for its alleged administrative failure. Yadav, who was leading a 15-member delegation to Sambhal, described the ban as the BJP-led government’s “attempt to hide its negligence”.
The SP chief further said, “If the government had imposed such a ban in advance on those who caused riots and made people raise frenzied slogans, the peace in Sambhal would not have been spoiled. The entire administration should be suspended for negligence.”
The violent had erupted in Sambhal on November 24 following a court-mandated survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid. Protesters opposed to the survey had clashed with the security forces, leading to stone-pelting incidents, arson and the death of several individuals.
The Samajwadi Party had constituted a team under MLA Mata Prasad Pandey, the Leader of the Opposition in the UP Assembly, to investigate the violence. Pandey claimed both Home Secretary Sanjay Prasad and the Sambhal District Magistrate asked him to postpone the visit. “They (administration) should have, as per rules, given me a notice that I cannot go there. They only rang up and deployed the police. The justice commission and the media are already going there, so why will there be any unrest if we visit too? This government is deliberately stopping us to hide its inefficiencies,” Pandey said.
The Sambhal violence has even rocked Parliament, being one of the reasons that the entire first week’s proceedings of the winter session were washed out.
