Lucknow, Jun 26 (PTI) Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday alleged that Leader of Opposition in Uttar Pradesh Assembly Mata Prasad Pandey and former MLA Lal Bihari Yadav were attacked by anti-social elements during their visit to Gorakhpur.
In a post on micro-blogging site X, Yadav termed the incident "highly condemnable" and said it raises serious concerns about the state of democracy in Uttar Pradesh.
"The attack on Mata Prasad Pandey ji and Lal Bihari Yadav ji by anti-social elements during their Gorakhpur visit is deeply condemnable," Yadav said in the post in Hindi.
"If political outreach and public grievance redressal are met with deadly assaults by state-backed anarchic forces, then this can only be called rule by anarchy," he added.
The Samajwadi Party chief demanded strict and impartial action against the culprits, warning that failure to do so would be seen as a "deliberate conspiracy".
"If action is not taken, it will be believed that this is a case of 'jo bhaata nahi, use hataaya jaata hai, jo PDA nahi, use sataaya jaata hai' (You remove those who you don't like, you trouble whose who are from the PDA community) -- a well-planned plot," he said, alluding to the government's housing scheme and political rivalry.
The official X handle of Samajwadi Party also chipped in, accusing the BJP-led government of shielding criminals and trying to suppress voices of the affected.
"To silence the truth, the government is relying on goons," the party posted.
"In a shameful act, anti-social elements were used to attack Leader of Opposition Mata Prasad Pandey and Lal Bihari Yadav in Gorakhpur while they were meeting traders victimised by government actions," it read.
The party further alleged that the motive behind the attack was to prevent traders from airing their grievances, and demanded strict and unbiased action from the police.
There was no official response from the local administration or the police regarding the incident. No arrests were made so far.