Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Uttar Pradesh over the incident of stripping and beating of two journalists in Hamirpur.
According to media reports, the journalists had exposed the corruption being done in the Nagar Panchayat by BJP Nagar Panchayat President Pawan Anuragi.
In turn, the journalists were meted out with such treatment.
Slamming the ruling BJP government in the state, Akhilesh Yadav said that the government is adopting every tactic of media's "morale encounter".
"Under BJP rule, every tactic of media's 'morale encounter' is being adopted," Yadav said in a post on X. "Today's media says, we don't want BJP," he added.
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The Uttar Pradesh unit of Congress party also attacked the BJP government over the incident saying the government is carrying out deadly attacks on media persons to suppress their voice.
"Two journalists from Hamirpur exposed the corruption being done in the Nagar Panchayat by BJP Nagar Panchayat President Pawan Anuragi," said the party in a post on X.
"This thing displeased the President so much that he got journalists Amit Dwivedi and Shailendra Mishra punished in Taliban-style," it said, adding: "The victims said that they were stripped naked, beaten, made to drink urine, threatened not to complain to the police, and threatened to make obscene videos and make them viral."
"Does BJP want to abolish the Constitution so that it can rule with Talibani attitude?" the party questioned.
"Every day, to suppress the voice of the fourth pillar of democracy, the government is carrying out deadly attacks on them through its protected goons," it alleged further.
The party also trained guns on CM Yogi Adityanath saying his silence "clearly indicates that he has tacit agreement on all this."