Bulandshahr violence: Congress asks PM Modi if 'this was the change' he promised

The Congress on Tuesday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Bulandshahr violence in which a police inspector and a civilian were killed in a mob attack over reports of alleged cattle slaughter.

Congress leader Kapil Sibal. Photo: File

NEW DELHI: The Congress on Tuesday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Bulandshahr violence in which a police inspector and a civilian were killed in a mob attack over reports of alleged cattle slaughter. Hitting out at Modi, the Congress aksed if "this was the change" he promised the country. The party demanded an inquiry under the supervision of a sitting high court judge into the Bulanddhahr violence. It also slammed Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath over the incident. Senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal alleged Adityanath was watching a sound and light show in Gorakhpur with his Chhattisgarh counterpart Raman Singh when the violence happened on Monday. "Prime Minister Modi before the 2014 elections used to say repeatedly that we will usher in change and also politics of change. I don't know how much change has come," PTI quoted Sibal as saying in a press conference. "But from 2014 till now, we have seen not change, but revenge, not change, but fear, not change, but hidden corruption, not change, but politics over Ram, politics over Hanuman...is this the change that Modi ji had promised. Look what kind of a change he has brought about in Bulanshahr," he said. Expressing grave concern over the law and order situation in UP, Sibal said, "Your police personnel is being killed by those people who are associated with you." Sibal cited alleged growing shootouts and killings in UP to stress the "worsening" law and order situation in the state. He alleged that such things are happening wherever the BJP was in power. Sibal also hit out at Adityanath for giving "poisonous speeches" in Telangana and Rajasthan during poll campaigns. A mob of some 400 people, including right-wing activists, fought pitched battles with police on Monday in Siana area of Bulandshahr district, apparently after right-wing activists were angered by the discovery of cow carcasses strewn in a nearby jungle. They set fire to dozens of vehicles, hurled stones and also fired guns at police who retaliated with gunfire. In the violence, Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh, the station house officer of Siana, and 20-year-old Sumit Kumar were killed. Sibal claimed that UP government minister Om Prakash Rajbhar has himself alleged that people from the Bajrang Dal, VHP, RSS were behind the planned conspiracy and this resulted in the death of Singh. (With inputs from PTI)