With no letup in sectarian violence in the old parts of Lucknow, religious leaders on Saturday slammed the Akhilesh Yadav's government for "failing to control" the outbreak.
"The district administration and the state government have failed miserably and we demand all Shia and Sunni processions be banned forthwith" Shaher Qazi and Idgah Imam Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahali said.
He accused the state machinery of failing to control the mobs and curb violence in a month as holy as Ramadan. "What are these people doing? People are being attacked and shops looted, the district administration is completely paralysed," he added.
All schools in the old city have been closed Saturday on the orders of District Magistrate Anurag Yadav.
The cleric also questioned the failure of officials in arresting the rioters despite photographic evidence against them. "Police have proofs yet they are not acting against mischief makers and it is a matter of great sadness that people returning from Friday prayers were fired upon and bombs hurled on them," Mahali said.
Meanwhile, opposition parties have also come down heavily on the state government for failing to control sectarian violence in the capital. "Violence is taking place in old city barely a kilometre away from the residence of the chief minister and nothing is happening, there is no control of the police here," Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said.
He also charged the state government of double standards while pointing out that IAS official Durga Shakti Nagpal was suspended on the assumption that communal harmony might be disturbed while no action is being taken against officials in places where actually violence and riots are taking place.
"This is a strange situation, largely because Anurag Yadav is a close relative of a powerful minister in the Akhilesh Yadav cabinet and hence no action is being taken against him," said a senior official.
Shia cleric Maulana Kalbe Jawwad also aired his sadness at the turn of events in the old city and said government should act to control violence immediately.
Violence broke out in Lucknow Wednesday after a procession during Ramzaan was attacked and some people torched shops and pelted stones.
The situation has continued to be more or less the same ever since. Inspector General of Police (law and order) R.K. Vishwakarma told IANS the police was on vigil but was refraining from using force owing to the festive season.
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