'Orchestrated by government': Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sambhal violence
NEW DELHI: Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday alleged that the violence in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal district over the survey of a mosque was orchestrated by the state government to divert attention from electoral malpractice.
"From all the videos we have, we know it was a riot orchestrated by the government. The government was looting votes. They did riot in Sambhal because they did not want to get caught," Akhilesh said talking to reporters.
"Some people say that after watching 'The Sabarmati Report' movie, some BJP leaders thought that they also want to become a big leader and have gotten this done (in Sambhal)," he said referring to the movie based on the Godhra incident.
The SP chief asserted on Police lodging FIR against Samajwadi Party MP Zia-ur-Rehman Barq and local SP MLA Iqbal Mehmood's son Sohail Iqbal as accused, "Our MP Zia ur Rahman was not even in Sambhal during the incident, and despite that, an FIR was lodged against him."