In a bid to check polarisation of votes in the wake of communal clashes ahead of the crucial Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh early next year, the state government is planning to set up a special unit to deal with communal riots. The unit though would be under the administrative control of the UP police but it would report directly to chief minister Akhilesh Yadav. This specialised unit will deal with all issues that could flare up communal tension, right from gathering intelligence to taking prompt preventive measures.
According to sources in the state government, the CM is keen on pushing ahead with this unit and has already discussed the issue with some of the top functionaries of his administration. Since UP is politically and communally extremely volatile, sources said the government is extremely apprehensive that some outfits may deliberately try and trigger communal tension in the run up to the important Assembly elections with the sole purpose of polarising votes.
The state has witnessed several incidents in the last few years which have led to division of vote bank on communal lines, the most noticeable being the Muzaffarnagar riots in 2013, which is believed to have led to polarisation of votes, particularly in western UP. In September last year, there was considerable tension in the Dadri area where a mob killed one Mohd. Akhlaq on suspicion that he had consumed beef.
Recently, BJP MLA Sangeet Som from Sardhana was stopped by the state police when he was trying to take out a Nirbhay Yatra amid reports of “Hindu exodus” from Kairana.
The home ministry has also asked the state government to submit a detailed report on the alleged incidents of “Hindu exodus” from Kairana. Since the UP government has not sent the report so far, the home ministry is now likely to send a reminder.
“In fact, some elements tried to take advantage of the Mathura violence also but the move was nipped in the bud by the local administration. The state is extremely vulnerable to communal clashes and we fear that in the run up to the Assembly polls such incidents will only increase with some outfits trying to take political advantage of it. So we need to prepare for that and a special anti-riots cell is a step in the right direction,’’ a senior state government functionary said.
Sources claimed that the CM is keen that the special riots unit should be given additional powers to directly get intelligence reports from local administration in suspected sensitive areas and rush in additional reinforcements and take adequate preventive steps without waiting for clearance from bureaucratic or political bosses. It is for this reason that the chief minister wants this cell to report directly to him.
Officials claim this will drastically cut down the response time of the police force and help prevent any major incident. In the past incidents, particularly in Muzaffarnagar, the local police has been blamed for delayed response or inadequate action as was witnessed in Mathura which led to the killing of two senior police officials also.
“The state government has learnt its lessons from the Muzaffarnagar incident so there is a clear directive from the CM that we should avoid any major communal flare up before the Assembly elections. And setting up of this unit is one of the initiatives in that direction,’’the official added.
