India / Opposition parties want to incite communal riots: UP CM Yogi

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath lashed out at the opposition on Sunday over their protests and visits to Hathras, where the alleged gang rape and brutality to a 20-year-old and her subsequent 2 am cremation by the police, keeping her family locked up, has raised a storm.

"Those who do not like development, they want to incite ethnic and communal riots," the Chief Minister tweeted, apparently targeting the opposition parties that have been holding protests over the issue.

Yogi Adityanath tweeted in Hindi: "Those who do not like development, they want to incite ethnic and communal riots. In the guise of these riots, they will get an opportunity to bake political loaves, so they do new conspiracies, we have to move the process of development rapidly by being fully alert to these conspiracies".

"It is possible to solve the biggest problems through dialogue," another tweet by the Chief Minister read. The state police, he admitted, still has to be "sensitive and proactive" in dealing with cases linked to women.

Yogi Adityanath's government has been facing huge criticism over the police handling of the case. Not only has the woman's family accused them of laxity and tardiness, their move to shift the body from a Delhi hospital disregarding her grief stricken family's appeals, has played out on national media. Their 2 am cremation, widely reported has evoked shock and outrage.

On Sunday, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath tweeted in Hindi: "It is possible to solve the biggest problems through dialogue. In 'New Uttar Pradesh', dialogue is the medium to solve all problems. Police department needs to be very sensitive and proactive in subjects related to mothers and sisters and issues related to scheduled castes and tribes".

Last week, the Congress had tried to visit Hathras twice. On Thursday, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra were stopped by the police while they were on way to meet the family.

They were successful on the second attempt, after a being briefly stopped midway. "No force can silence us," Mr Gandhi told the media after the meeting with the family.

On Sunday, Rashtriya Lok Dal workers led by party leader Jayant Chaudhary were lathicharged when they tried to meet the woman's family today. The RLD later held protests against the police action.

A delegation of the state's opposition Samajwadi Party met the family after being stopped briefly by the police near Agra. "This forcible stoppage is a murder of democracy… Samajwadi(s) will stand with the aggrieved family in their fight for justice," the party tweeted in Hindi.

Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has set up an 11-member fact-finding team headed by the party's state unit chief Naresh Uttam Patel.

"The Uttar Pradesh government is trying to hide what happened there (in Hathras). The funeral by police and attack on journalists is strongly condemnable. Moreover, the political leaders who are going there are also being attacked," said senior DMK leader Kanimozhi.