File: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav (R) addresses a press conference in Muzaffarnagar. PTI File: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav (R) addresses a press conference in Muzaffarnagar. PTI

The Uttar Pradesh Government seems to be making all the wrong decisions ever since its failure in handling the Muzaffarnagar riots. Earlier, it was SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, who called the riot victims conspirators aided by Congress and BJP, then it was Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who ordered forcible eviction from relief camps and now again it is the state chief Minister, who wants cases against hate-monger politicians withdrawn in public interest.Unmoved by criticism, the UP government has finally moved to withdraw cases of hate mongering, violating prohibitory orders and inciting violence filed against Muslim leaders, belonging to BSP and Congress. Inflammatory speeches made by these leaders allegedly led to large-scale riots in Muzaffarnagar and adjoining Shamli districts in the aftermath of the Kawal eve-teasing incident in Muzaffarnagar.As per official sources, the law department of state government has written to the district magistrates of both Muzaffarnagar and Shamli if the cases against the leaders can be withdrawn in public interest. The district authorities are now in the process of sending a detailed report on the involvement of these leaders in inciting violence post-Juma prayers at Khala Par area of Muzaffarnagar on August 31. What is more shocking, however, is that the government has shamelessly gone ahead and defended its decision.Additional Advocate General of UP Zafaryab Jilani said the cases around the time of riots are usually registered based on suspicion. There frequently are cases that prove to be based on frivolous grounds and are therefore withdrawn at a later stage. "Many such cases in which politicians were charged with inciting riots were, in fact, reviewed by the CM and Mulayam Singh Yadav themselves. It included tapes which allegedly contained hate speeches made by these politicians. After the review, they were of the opinion that the case s against some of them do not hold any ground. It is, therefore, in the interest of the government to withdraw such cases since they may cause unnecessary embarrassment to it in the court if pursued further," Jilani said.Most prominent of all the politicians against whom cases for inciting riots were filed included the sitting BSP MP from Muzaffarnagar Qadir Rana, his brother and BSP MLA Noor Saleem Rana, another BSP MLA Jameel Ahmad, former Congress minister and MLA Saeed-uz-Zaman and his son Salman Saeed. Community leaders Asad Zama, Naushad Qureshi and advocate Sultan Mashir are among others. Arrest warrants had also been issued against them by a local court but the police failed to arrest them. BSP's Qadir Rana and most of the other accused except Congress' Saeed-uz-Zaman later appeared in the court and were granted bail.The rival political parties, however, see this as an attempt by the ruling party to deflect public attention from its failure to control riots and criticism on forcible evictions at the relief camps.Congress spokesperson Dwijendra Tripathi said the SP is "consistently on the backfoot" because of the drubbing it has got post Muzaffarnagar riots. "It, therefore, is trying to divert and deflect attention of the people and political parties from its failure in Muzaffarnagar by resorting to such tricks," Tripathi said.State BJP president Laxmikant Bajpayee said it is only select leaders against whom the government has moved to withdraw cases. "It does not benefit the scores of innocent people, who have been wrongly implicated. We, therefore, will oppose this move of the government on all platforms."What has infuriated the BJP leadership even more is that while cases against BSP and Congress leaders are being sought to be withdrawn, BJP MLAs Sangeet Som and Suresh Rana continue to face cases for inciting violence even as the State Advisory Committee has exonerated them in the NSA case slapped against them. The Special Investigation Cell (SIC), formed post riots, although continues to investigate cases, no charge-sheet in any such case has been filed so far.There are some big questions that need to be answered. Is the UP government playing minority politics by dropping cases against Muslim MLAs? Is the government trying to shift focus from its apathy towards riot victims? Has justice been denied to riot victims by the Akhilesh Yadav government?