Dubey arrest: Political slugfest in UP, but no party free of criminal elements

Vikas Dubey's arrest from Ujjain has led to a torrent of political mud-slinging in UP

vikas-dubey Gangster Vikas Dubey | Supplied

The low-key and unexpected arrest of gangster Vikas Dubey from Ujjain has led to a torrent of political mud-slinging in Uttar Pradesh—a state where no political party can claim to be free of criminal elements.

Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav has demanded making public Dubey’s call records in order to bring clarity to the ‘collusion’ which permitted the criminal to escape the state even as multiple police teams were deployed to check district and state borders.

Congress General Secretary and UP in-charge Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted about the “complete failure” of the state’s police. She has also raked up the inaction on the letter written by Devendra Mishra, one of the policemen killed in last week’s encounter in Dubey’s village Bikaru, about the protection offered to him by the local police station. This is followed by a demand for an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation to uncover the “relations of protection” that Dubey enjoyed that allowed him to remain free even though there were 60 cases against him.

Jitin Prasada, another Congress leader of prominence from the state, has accused the BJP government of “a new low” in the manner in which it went about indiscriminately arresting Dubey’s family members. Except for a failed “nyay yatra”, the same politician had been almost silent when erstwhile minister Chinmayanand was accused of repeated rape and threats by a student of one of the degree colleges run by Chinmayanand’s trusts.

On the day of the police ambush, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief, Mayawati had tweeted that if need be a special operation must be mounted to hunt Dubey.

All these are speaking for parties which have patronized criminals for years. Raghuraj Pratap Singh, arrested under a BSP government in 2002 and charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) was made minister for Food and Civil Supplies, and Prisons under the subsequent SP government in 2003. Mukhtar Ansari, whose list of murders included that of BJP leader Krishnanand Rai in 2005, joined the BSP in 2007 and was hailed as ‘Robin Hood’ by the party chief Mayawati. Amarmani Tripathi, convicted for the murder of poet Madhumita Shukla hopped from the Congress to the BSP to the BJP. Sri Prakash Shukla, one of the most dreaded gangsters of the state was shielded because of his close connections with prominent members of the BJP government led by Kalyan Singh, till he was shot by the Special Task Force in 1998.