High drama was witnessed outside the UP Assembly on Wednesday after a local court in Muzaffarnagar issued arrest warrants against a BSP MP, BJP and BSP MLAs and senior community leaders for allegedly inciting violence through inflammatory speeches here.
The rapid polarisation of votes on communal lines is making the situation in Uttar Pradesh advantageous for the BJP while the Samajwadi Party, Congress and the BSP stand the risk of losing out on minority support.
Senior BJP leader Uma Bharti led legislators and party workers and assembled outside the Vidhan Sabha. She challenged the Akhilesh Yadav government to arrest BJP MLAs and warned that the government would have to face the consequences if it did arrest them.
Ms Bharti, amidst a thunderous applause from party workers, demanded that senior minister Azam Khan should also be arrested on the same grounds for which the BJP MLAs have been booked.
The accused legislators then trooped into the Vidhan Sabha with their colleagues while the police looked on.
IG (law and order) R K Vishwakarma told reporters that since the warrants have been issued by the court the legal process would be followed.
The arrest warrants have been issued against 16 politicians and community leaders, including BSP MP Qadir Rana, BJP MLAs Sangeet Som and Bhartendu Singh, BSP MLAs Noor Saleem and Maulana Jameel, Congress leader Saeed-ul-Zaman and Bhartiya Kisan Union chief Naresh Tikait.
SSP Muzaffarnagar Praveen Kumar assured that action would be taken against the accused within two days. “We have collected some evidence and some more evidence is to be collected and very soon, the accused will be arrested,” the SSP said.
Meanwhile, one of the accused BJP MLAs, Sangeet Som, denied that he had uploaded a fake video that played a crucial role in fuelling communal riots in Muzaffarnagar.
Talking to reporters in the Vidhan Sabha complex on Wednesday, Mr Som said that the fake video was uploaded from a fake identity on Facebook and he was in no way responsible for it.
Denying that he was evading arrest, the BJP MLA said that he had been attending the Assembly session. “It is a conspiracy against me to appease certain sections of society and I am being used for the purpose,” he said.
Mr Som has been charged with uploading a video that claims to show the lynching of two Hindu Jat boys and also making provocative speeches at the mahapanchayat that triggered violence on September 7.
The accused persons are wanted by the police for violating prohibitory orders and provoking communal tension by inflammatory speeches in different meetings, including the mahapanchayats, in the district.
Ten police teams have been sent to arrest those against whom warrants have been issued, a senior official added.