Mulayam claims to know names of people behind Dadri lynching

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Thursday claimed that he had the names of three people who were behind the lynching of a Muslim in Dadri last month over rumours of eating beef. Addressing a press conference in the state capital, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister added that these were the same people who had a hand in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots.

"The whole incident was a part of a larger conspiracy to disrupt peace and harmony in the state," he added while saying that he will "share the names with his chief minister son Akhilesh Yadav and ensure that the guilty are brought to justice".

There are some forces who are out to destroy the peaceful atmosphere in the state and the country for electoral gains and trying to create a divide between Hindus and Muslims in UP, who have been living in complete harmony and brotherhood for ages, he said.

Under fire for his silence of the lynching of Mohd Akhlaq in Bishada village of Dadri, the SP supremo also condoled his death and alleged that there were efforts to subvert the aspirations of a community, something, which he underlined, did not augur well for the country.

Reacting to the statement of the SP chief, the state unit of the BJP rubbished his claims of having three names and said that Yadav was only trying to divert the attention of the people from the failures of his son.

"He has nothing to say to his son or to the government, which has an absymal track record" state spokesman Chandra Mohan said while recalling how Mualayam Singh Yadav, in the aftermath of the Muzaffarnagar riots, had said that there would never be a repeat of such incidents. - IANS