Mishandling of Shia issue by Mayawati govt worsens deteriorating law and order in UP

The CM's remarks have struck a raw nerve in Lucknow's Shia communityGoing by the crime rate in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Mayawati's first month in office has been as disastrous as the last month of President's rule under Governor Romesh Bhandari. For, apart from making pledges to end "goonda raj"and blaming Mulayam Singh Yadav for patronising criminals, Mayawati has failed to check the deteriorating law and order situation.Alarmed by the spate of murders, Kalyan Singh of the BJP, the coalition partner which takes over the chief ministership in September under a rotatory arrangement, commented: "People will not forgive us if the oppression at the hands of criminals did not end." Though an official compilation of crime figures is yet to be done, according to government sources, murders (the general benchmark for assessing overall crime) ranged between five and seven a day since Mayawati took over. This is a little higher than the average five murders a day during the Bhandari rule. In fact, the Samajwadi Party's (SP) state unit chief Ram Saran Das claims over 270 murders during Mayawati's first month in office, adding that most of the victims belonged to his party. Some shocking examples:The killing of former BSP MLA Virendra Pratap Sahi in Lucknow on March 31.The gunning down of Samajwadi Yuvjan Sabha president Sachidanand Pandey in Baharaich on April 7.The killing of DCC office-bearer Dharamraj Singh in Bulandshahr on April 7.The murder of BSP district chief Chottey Lal Verma in Hardoi on April 6.To top it all, the mishandling of a sensitive issue like the protest by Shia Muslims to allow Moharram processions, banned since 1977, has led to five self-immolations, resulting in the death of three protesters. Mayawati's refusal to first entertain the demand, and then attributing political motives to Shia leaders for inciting their community, has only aggravated the situation. The Shias have announced 10 more immolations in a phased agitation if the Government did not concede their demand. Says Maulana Kalbe Sadiq, a respected Shia leader: "We will not talk to this wretched government anymore. We are all prepared for the final sacrifice."It is a fact that prior to 1977, Moharram processions resulted in more than a dozen clashes between Shias and Sunnis in Lucknow, and in the last 20 years no chief minister has dared to lift the ban. But Mayawati's tactless handling of the situation has brought the issue to a boil. First she rejected the community's demand at a meeting with Shia leaders last fortnight, and to make matters worse, she even refused to allow the bodies of two of the immolation victims (which had been taken to New Delhi for treatment) to be brought to Lucknow.When Bhandari tried to mediate on behalf of the Shias, Mayawati's reaction was caustic: "These people (Bhandari and Kalbe Sadiq) are Mulayam's men and want to create a riot situation at his behest." Incensed at the chief minister's outburst, the Shias took out a protest march on Eid and later that evening a youngster attempted the fifth self-immolation. Officials who have handled the Moharram procession issue under previous governments say Mayawati doesn't have much of an option. Still, her charge against Shia leaders and thereby the entire community was unprecedented.Another fiasco was the chief minister's month-long drive to arrest at least 75 per cent of all listed criminals by April 18. If the string of dacoities and murders is any indication, the drive has been a dismal failure. Consider the evidence: the triple murder in Kheri district on April 13; the night-long looting of five Kanpur villages resulting in one death on April 11; a similar looting spree resulting in three deaths in Khurja in Bulandshahr district on April 8; and the death of four persons in a communal flare-up in Mathura. Worse, reports from places like Kanpur, Gorakhpur, Allahabad and Varanasi speak of alleged police excesses against petty criminals and the arrest of innocents in the name of curbing crime.Uttar Pradesh continues to reel under lawlessness despite the transfer of 14 of the 15 Range DIGs and 60 SSPs of the total 69 districts to have her trusted officials handling the situation. Mayawati's administration evidently lacks the teeth it displayed during her brief rule in 1995.Published By: AtMigration Published On: May 15, 1997 00:00 IST--- ENDS ---

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Mishandling of Shia issue by Mayawati govt worsens deteriorating law and order in UP

Mishandling of the Shia issue highlights the Mayawati administration's ineptitude.

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