The wreckage of SHO Subodh Kumar Singh’s vehicle burnt by the angry mob in Bulandshahr on Monday. Photo credit: Gajendra Yadav.

The Shiv Sena faced ally BJP on Wednesday seeking answers over the violence that erupted in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr. He claimed that the mob was incited over their religious differences to cause the havoc ahead of the approaching Sabha polls. His main concern was to know whether or not someone pre-planned it. The cow slaughter and meat eating are common in Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Mizoram and Tripura, but no such violence action has been witnessed in Bulandshahr.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) could have become the ruling party in 2014 as it snatched 71 seats out of the possible 80 in UP. The BJP has noted that the repeat of such a performance is not possible at all as the opposition can possibly gang up as they did in the by-polls in the UP. Sena said that the party in power could easily lose if that happens.

“Was the Bulandshahr incident stage-managed in a similar manner the Muzaffarnagar was executed just before the 2014 polls? The BJP is informed that the 2019 polls will be a tough one. Is there a possibility that it resorted to using the religious polarization as a weapon?” the Sena asked while attending Saamana.

The tribal clashes which erupted in UP’s Muzaffarnagar district and its environs in August and September in 2013 led to the loss of 60 lives and over 40,000 people affected in one way or the other. Sena, who is a ruling ally of the BJP, said that the 80 seats of Lok Sabha are vital for the BJP. The party needed these seats to change the game but was all the manslaughter and communal clashes worth it? The party was left with no answer.

The Station House Officer (SHO), inspector Subodh Kumar Singh from Siana who lost his life in the Bulandshahr incident has been at the forefront to bring to justice the accused of the UP’s Dadri episode which happened in 2015, the Sena mentioned.

“The big question which everyone is now asking is whether the Subodh Kumar’s death in the Bulandshahr violence is linked to the Dari lynching incident,” said the Uddhay Thackeray-led party. Mohammad Akhlaq, a man in his early 50 was murdered in cold blood right in his house in Biasada village which falls under the UP’s Gautam Buddh Nagar district reason being the consumed meat. That incident occurred on September 2015.

A mob of about 400 people fought a fierce battle with the police on Monday in Bulandshahr district. The right-wing activists lost their temper after discovering cow carcasses dumped in the nearby jungle. They burnt a number of vehicles, threw stones and engaged in a fire exchange with the police officers who also counterattacked with gunfires.

Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh and Sumit Kumar of 20 years of age lost their lives in that incident. The police detained two people the following day and the search for Bajrang Dal activist was on as his involvement with the incident.