Law and order takes the sheen off Yogi government

Lucknow: Saharanpur caste riots, murder and loot of jewellers in Mathura, Jewar Highway murder and rape, the murder of an IAS officer in Lucknow, police attacked in Agra, a man set ablaze in his car in Gorakhpur and communal clashes in Sambhal and Aligarh have only worsened the overall law and order situation in Uttar Pradesh.

The Yogi Adityanath government is now being attacked by the same tool that it used to demolish the Akhilesh government in the Assembly elections — the law and order situation, a matter for worry from east to west. Within just 60 days, the BJP government seems to have begun losing its sheen because of its inability to tackle the issue.

UP minister Suresh Khanna says, “We never spoke of zero crime because Uttar Pradesh is a huge state. But we can assure that criminals will not be spared. You must realise that we have received a system that has decayed, and it will take some time to put things back on track.” Mr Adityanath has also been repeatedly saying that criminal will either be in jail or outside the state but his words, apparently, are not having a desired impact. A retired DGP, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said, “Nothing has changed except the colour that had gone from green (SP) to saffron (BJP). The criminals no longer have the fear of encounter or third-degree torture. They continue with their activities as they are confident that no harm will come to them,” said a senior official.