Uttar Pradesh, specially when ruled by the Samajwadi Party, is no stranger to serious crime followed by inaction on the part of the authorities, causing a crime-inaction cycle to be established. But Akhilesh Yadav, the young well-meaning chief minister who has principally been an onlooker as crime of a communal nature ravaged the state from around late 2013, and attacks on dalits and women piled up on a steady basis, is at last showing signs of stirring. The disturbing incident of a mother and daughter being sexually assaulted near Bulandshahar in western UP late last week after their car was forced off the highway by robbers and male members of the family were beaten and tied up, has shocked even the political class as Parliament is in session.
The CM has suspended the seniormost IPS officers of the district, besides several junior administration officials. Some 300 policemen divided up into more than a dozen teams have been deployed to round up the criminals. The state police chief and the principal secretary of the home department are camping at the district headquarters to ensure that the criminals are rounded up within 24 hours. Needless to say, the blitz is due to the perceived political impact of the sensational crime when Assembly elections are just over six months away and all opponents of the SP are unanimous that “goonda raj” has returned to UP with the return of the Samajwadis.
Former CM Mayawati’s BSP, seen by many as the SP’s main challenger in the coming polls, has asked for the dismissal of the Akhilesh government over the collapse of law and order, and asked for the imposition of President’s Rule. The BJP has sought the resignation of the CM. The Congress has said the chief minister has no moral right to continue. These are of course political statements by interested parties, but the SP leadership — Mulayam Singh Yadav more than son Akhilesh — will appreciate that the negative and vicious campaign on the issue of law and order can conceivably sink the ship.
UP’s upper castes, who were seen to back the SP in the 2012 state election on the rebound from the BSP, are usually sensitive to the rise in crime statistics. Since they are expected to have a rethink about the SP, the other three parties in the fray may be expected to pitch their strategies to net this chunk which, no doubt, is divided on caste lines but can at times reveal a common electoral preference. The SP, naturally, is playing for the opposite result. By showing that it is capable of acting against criminals, it hopes to woo the state as a whole, especially the upper castes.
