Akhilesh slams BJP on Sambhal

The recent violence during a court-monitored survey of a mosque in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal town was part of a well-planned conspiracy to divert attention from crucial bypolls, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said on Tuesday, demanding action against the police for the clashes that have become a hot-button national issue.

Yadav, the member of Parliament from Kannauj, and senior SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav brought up the Sambhal clashes, where four people died and around 20 were injured, in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha respectively, the first time that the communally sensitive issue has been debated in Parliament.

Yadav also said that the Bharatiya Janata Party's talk about "khudai" or digging at various sites across the country will hurt communal harmony. "Sambhal is known for brotherhood that has been practised for thousands of years. However, the sudden incident that occurred was a premeditated strategy and a well-planned attempt to disrupt that brotherhood," the SP chief said.

The former chief minister also linked the recent events with the delay in assembly by-elections in the state (the bypolls to nine assembly seats were pushed from November 13 to November 20), much to the chagrin of the treasury benches.

"I am calling the incident a thought-out conspiracy because the by-elections (in nine out of 10 assembly seats) were first supposed to take place on November 13, which were later postponed to November 20," Yadav said.