New Delhi: A delegation of Samajwadi Party (SP), including MPs Iqra Hassan and Mohibullah Nadvi, left the residence of senior SP leader and Rajya Sabha MP Harendra Singh Malik on Saturday, who left the route to harass Bareilly. However, the delegation was stopped by a heavy police sufficient before reaching its destination.
The journey comes in Bareilly in view of recent tensions on the line of controversial ‘I Love Muhammad’.
Party leaders intend to meet people affected by the incident and assess the ground situation. Another major SP MP Ziaur Rahman Barak was scheduled to join the delegation from Sambhal.
However, the delegation was stopped by a heavy police sufficient before reaching its destination.
SP MLA Atur Rahman, who was also part of the visiting team, alleged that the administration was trying to suppress the Democratic Outreach.
The line of ‘I Love Muhammad’ and the violence on it are being prevented from traveling to Bareilly, Samajwadi Party MP Hassan said, “The ruling power is included. Our efforts were to reach there, listen to the suffering of the people and increase their voice, which is the duty of a public representative, and here we were stopped.”
MP Harendra Singh Malik said, “We only wanted to travel within our country, to go to our own districts, and yet we are being treated in this way. If the government treated the terrorists in this way, Pulwama and Pahgam would not have taken place.
SP MP Mohibullah Nadvi also said, “In Bareilly, the law and the constitution are being torn, and the people are being persecuted. To see this, and on the instructions of the party President, our entire delegation is going from here. We will continue to fight in the capital. Samajwadi Party will win this fight …”
SP MLA Ataur Rahman said: “We were going to Bareilly on the instructions of Mata Prasad Pandey, so that people were instructed to meet the victims of the incident so that people could get justice, but police of several stations have been deployed here to prevent us from going there.”
Leader of the Opposition in the UP Assembly Mata Prasad Pandey said: “All the officers (in Bareilly), I had earlier appointed as SPS. When we meet these officers, we can talk to people and get accurate information … There, we can understand people and address any issue.”
Earlier in the day, police personnel were deployed outside the residence of Mata Prasad Pandey in Lucknow.
The SP’s move comes amid the increasing criticism of the UP government’s operation to deal with communal tensions in Bareilly, where many youth have been allegedly detained or questioned for slogans supporting Prophet Muhammad. The issue has provoked a political line, in which opposition parties have accused the religious outline and the administration of heavy.
Harendra Singh Malik, from whose residence the delegation started his journey, emphasized that his journey was to ensure peace and justice.
So far, the situation in Bareilly is tense, a large number of police personnel have been deployed in sensitive areas. The SP delegation has urged the government to allow peaceful political engagement and ensure transparency in police action.
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