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Samajwadi Party (SP) national general secretary Swami Prasad Maurya has sparked a fresh row after he justified the firing on ‘kar sevaks’ in Ayodhya in 1990, saying it was done to maintain law and order and peace in Uttar Pradesh at that time.
“When the incident took place in Ayodhya at the Ram Temple, anarchists had gathered there without any judicial or administrative order and had indulged in vandalism. The then government ordered firing to maintain law and order and peace. It was the duty of the government.” Maurya said in Kasganj on Tuesday.
The firing at kar sevaks has been an important part of the BJP’s campaign against the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, with the saffron party accusing the SP of being “anti-Hindu” on multiple occasions.
In November 2017, SP founder Mulayam Singh Yadav had justified his order to open fire at the kar sevaks marching towards Ayodhya in 1990, saying if even more people were required to be killed for the country’s unity and integrity, the security forces would have done it.
Akhilesh Yadav, on the other hand, has been mostly evasive on the incident. The SP chief steered clear of the topic, and evaded questions on several occasions.
Over the past one year, Maurya, who was earlier with the BSP and the BJP before joining the SP in the run-up to the 2022 UP Assembly elections, has carved out an identity for himself by giving statements, which even many within the SP consider “anti-Hindu”.
SP MLA from Gauriganj constituency Rakesh Pratap Singh had Tuesday said that he had complained to Akhilesh to put a stop to Maurya’s statements on religion. “Honourable national president (Akhilesh Yadav) has given us specific instructions not to give statements on religion… Through the media and on meeting the national president personally, I have on multiple occasions said that a stop should be put on his (Maurya’s) statements and our leader has given him instructions to do so — i.e. not to talk about religion,” he said.
The BJP, meanwhile, hit back at the SP leader.
BJP national secretary Manjinder Singh Sirsa posted on X on Wednesday, “SP leader Swami Prasad Maurya has given a condemnable and unnecessary statement in which he has justified brutal killings of Kar sewaks by UP police on orders of then Mulayam Singh Yadav govt in the state. Now when #RamMandir is coming up after a long legal battle & judgement of Supreme court, the opposition is frustrated and are giving irreparable statement which will result in unnecessary tension in the country.”
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