Officials face action as UP govt addresses complaints by workers of BJP, allies of being ‘ignored’

Last week, the state government ordered a Special Investigation Team probe and suspended six police personnel, including a Station House Officer, in Ghazipur district of Eastern UP after a 32-year-old BJP worker died following an altercation outside a police station on September 9. The government intervened after BJP leaders from the district met the Chief Minister in Lucknow.

Days before the Ghazipur incident, the ABVP held a statewide protest for over a week, alleging “brutal” lathicharge on its volunteers and students in Barabanki by police, while they were protesting against alleged anomalies in the functioning of Shri Ram Swaroop Memorial University. The RSS student wing released videos and photographs of the lathicharge as well as of its volunteers and students admitted in hospital with severe injuries.

Following the ABVP protests, the Circle Officer of the area concerned was removed immediately, four more police personnel were suspended later, and a probe ordered. When the ABVP still didn’t call off its protests, Adityanath called its leaders for a meeting, and assured them of action against all the guilty.

An ABVP leader said they appreciated the response by Adityanath. “What amazed us most was that the CM called us for a meeting, and did not just hear us out patiently but also acted beyond what we had hoped for. Apart from an inquiry into the university, he ordered a state-wide drive to fill gaps in the system… There was also action over encroachment done by the university.”

In July, Minister of State for Child Development and Women Welfare Pratibha Shukla sat on a protest outside a police station in Akbarpur area of Kanpur Dehat, demanding removal of the Station House Officer (SHO). She alleged that the SHO was misbehaving with party workers and lodging false cases against them, and that “Brahmin” workers were being specifically targeted.

“Maan samman ke aage koi samjhauta nahin (There is no compromising when it comes to respect and honour),” she said. “We will not end our protest till the SHO is removed. He misbehaves with workers, lodges false cases, loses his temper. Is this an SP (Samajwadi Party) government?… (No) It is a BJP government and the government of Yogi ji.”

Sources said that while the police outpost in-charge was removed immediately, the inspector has also been transferred now.

In a more recent case, another minister, Dinesh Pratap Singh, who holds the Horticulture portfolio, alleged police of misconduct while BJP workers were protesting against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during his recent visit to Amethi.

Singh wrote a letter to state BJP chief Bhupendra Chaudhary saying that while he and others were protesting on the roadside, and not causing any disruption to traffic, police removed them and snatched party flags.

Among BJP allies, the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) held a protest outside the Bansdih Police Station in Ballia in March, and gave an ultimatum to the BJP government after policemen allegedly beat up SBSP workers following a complaint made locally against them.

Sources said two police personnel were suspended after an inquiry by senior officers into the incident.

SBSP chief spokesperson Arun Rajbhar, the son of party chief Om Prakash Rajbhar, told The Indian Express: “Pehle action nahin hota tha. Lekin idhar beech jitni bhi ghatnayein huin, sangyan mein aane pe, chahe koi bhi kar raha ho, ek ke baad ek karyawahi ho rahi hai (There used to be no action earlier. But, in the recent past, whenever an incident has happened and has come to attention, whoever may be involved, action has been taken in each one of them).”

Arun claims a dozen such incidents of police “misbehaviour” with SBSP workers in the past one year, and says that after inquiries by senior officials, action has been taken in all. “There were incidents in Jaunpur, Firozabad, Varanasi etc, and we met senior officials or the CM… The message has gone out that officers should at least hear us out, as per the rules, and not misbehave.”

In January, Apna Dal (S) leader Ashish Patel, a state minister and husband of Union minister Anupriya Patel, claimed publicly at a party event that he was being “threatened” by the UP Police Special Task Force. Speaking at the event, Patel said that instead of shooting him in the leg (as happens in many STF encounters), police should “shoot me in the chest”, and declared that he and his partymen were not afraid.

BJP leaders acknowledge a “change” in the receptiveness shown by the government to complaints of workers of the party, including MLAs and MPs, as well as of its allies. Sources say that officials have also been instructed to give a proper hearing to issues of public representatives.

A senior BJP leader acknowledges that the government “is attempting its best to resolve the issues of public representatives and party workers, especially over the conduct of police and other officials”, but adds, “there is still a long way to go”.

The ABVP leader quoted above agrees, adding: “More effort is needed to remove the perception that the bureaucracy is running the show.”

Asked about apprehensions expressed by NDA leaders that this may hurt them in the polls, as some of their attempts to help their constituents had been blocked by officials, BJP spokesperson Rakesh Tripathi told The Indian Express: “There were some issues related to the bureaucracy as both the BSP and SP governments in the past introduced jaatikaran (casteism) down the ranks. But now accountability is being set.”

On incidents of alleged police high-handedness, Tripathi said: “Police have been given freedom to work with transparency, unlike in previous governments. Sometimes, this power is misused. But whenever such instances come to our notice, immediate cognizance is taken, guilty are suspended or removed… For us, the public and their issues are the priority.”