Samajwadi Party slams UP Governor, dubs him as RSS worker

Lucknow: Taking on UP Governor Ram Naik for his remarks on the law and order situation in the state, ruling Samajwadi Party today dubbed him as "an RSS worker" and advised him to join the Union ministry to pursue his "communal agenda".

Amid the continuing tussle between the Raj Bhawan and the Akhilesh Yadav government, SP National General Secretary Ram Gopal Yadav said Naik's statement was against the spirit of the Constitution.

"Naik is acting as if he was not the Governor but Home Minister of the country. He gives statement on law and order in Orai but is mum on Dadri incident. All the world knows, who is responsible for Dadri. It was a well planned conspiracy," Yadav said in a no-holds-barred attack on Naik.

"The Governor many times attends programmes of communal organisations. He makes statement like an RSS worker, which is not good. Naik's act are against the dignity of a Governor. He has a habit of making such statements," Yadav told reporters.

"SP demands from the Centre that he should be made a Union minister so that he can visit all over the country and fulfil his communal agenda," he said.

Yadav's outburst came a day after the Governor said the law and order situation was "very poor" in the state and he had requested the chief minister that it should be improved.

"Communal disturbances which are happening are due to bad law and order sitaution," Naik had said in Jalaun. The SP leader said, "Except UP, you do not hear any such statement from any other Governor in the country. In Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and northeast states a number of incidents take place, but the governor in those states never makes such statements on law and order. Their action is not against the spirit of the Constituion."

"Despite understanding the Constitution, I am making a statement against the Governor as everything has its limits," Yadav said.

When asked whether Naik was working under direction of the Centre, the SP leader said, "The governor is free to send reports to the Centre. I don't think there is any hand of the Centre in this regard there are governors in others states, where BJP is not in power, but they don't talk like him."

Defending the state government, Yadav said if out of 75 districts, some incidents take place in three districts "can the law and order of the entire state be termed as poor?"

"There is a bigger conspiracy to defame the government.

Attempts are being made to disturb communal harmony in places where no such incident took place earlier," he said.

On beef politics, Yadav said, "Cow slaughter is legally banned in UP and if it happens, it is a crime. There is a conspiracy to malign SP government and tarnish its image."

The governor's comments yesterday came at a time when Rajbhawan and the state government are not on the same page on various contentious issues.

The choice of Lokayukta has run into rough weather with the Samajwadi Party government insisting on a particular name over which Naik has reservations citing lack of consensus among members of the selection committee.

Besides, Naik has refused to clear names of five persons for the Legislative Council in the nominated members category, raising questions over their expertise for qualifying in that category.

Certain bills passed by the state legislature too are awaiting his assent.

The governor has in the past too made critical comments on the law and order situation in the state.

On clashes in Kanpur, Yadav said that it was immediate reaction to an incident.

Two police officials were injured in violent clashes that broke out between two communities in various parts of Kanpur district over an alleged incident of desecration, forcing the administration to impose prohibitary orders in the area.

"If everything was going on peacefully and an incident took place after a poster was torn, it shows that hatred has been generated in hearts of people," he said.

"The police could not anticipate that such an incident could take a violent turn, but it controlled the situation and normalised it," he said.

Asked about visits of political leaders to such places, Yadav said strict action will be initiated against those who try to vitiate communal atmosphere.

In reply to a question, Yadav said that communal trouble is orchestrated by those who want to get political benefit of it.

"You have seen who got the benefit of polarisation before Lok Sabha polls. Those who suffered losses could not be involved in such incidents," he added.