Opposition attacks Uttar Pradesh government over police action in AMU and BHU

LUCKNOW: The first day of the winter session in Vidhan Parishad was rocked by protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) with Opposition demanding that the government explain police action against student protesters.
The House was adjourned twice over the ruckus and finally, Opposition members walked out around 4.15pm after deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma said that the Opposition, which had failed to stoke communal violence after the Ayodhya verdict, was using CAA to fuel unrest.
In the morning, members of Congress, SP and BSP had demanded the government’s statement on the law and order situation in the state, with reference to lathicharge against students in BHU and AMU.
“You are in majority and therefore got the Bill passed but you cannot beat up those who are protesting against it. The government wants to establish police rule in the state,” said SP MLC Shatrudra Prakash.
BSP MLC Dinesh Chandra also raised the issue of police entering university campus. He said the government was claiming that there was no opposition to its policies because people had been locked up in their homes.
Comparing the situation to the Jallianwala Bagh tragedy, leader of Opposition Ahmed Hasan said that even then, people had been protesting peacefully till the British soldiers fired at them. BJP, he said, was doing the same thing.
Responding to the Opposition, deputy CM Dinesh Sharma said that the recent violence had been fuelled by rumours.
“Those who were rejected by the public are using students for their means. The government is working well and people’s support is clear in the way BJP is winning elections. We have proof that the police are being maligned. In the name of protests, one cannot resort to violence. In AMU, it was only when the registrar called the police that they entered the premises. Police began lathicharge only after 18 personnel were injured,” he said.