For the last one month, Muslim rioters “protesting” against the newly amended Citizenship Law have run amok, turning various parts of the country, especially Uttar Pradesh into a war zone. Sporadic incidents of extreme violence, arson and hooliganism were witnessed throughout the country, leaving many innocent people and police personnel injured or dead and several public properties damaged. Despite all this, a senior Samajwadi Party (SP) leader and leader of Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, Ram Govind Chaudhary has today brazenly offered pension and awards to anti-CAA rioters.

Extending his unconditional support to these anti-CAA ‘protests’, the SP leader said that when the Samajwadi Party comes to power in Uttar Pradesh, it would provide pension and confer the award of ‘Samvidhan Rakshak’ on all those who protested against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). According to the leader, these rioters have been protecting the Indian Constitution.

He further said that the Samajwadi government would give compensation to those killed and jailed in the anti-CAA protests. “This promise will be fulfilled on the day Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav takes oath as chief minister. All cases related to protest against CAA, NPR and NRC would also be withdrawn without delay,” he said.

Read: Radical Islamic organisations PFI, SDPI along with Samajwadi Party workers instigated violence in the state: UP Police

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The Samajwadi Party, he said, will not question anyone’s citizenship. Chaudhary said the party’s “satyagraha” against these laws will continue till the time the BJP decides to withdraw it.

This statement, however, does not come as a surprise, as Samajwadi party goons have been spearheading some of these riots in various parts of the state. Uttar Pradesh police have restated time and again that it was radical Islamic groups like PFI and SDPI and mainstream political parties like the Samajwadi party who had conspired to perpetrate violence and unleash riots during the anti-CAA protests in the state.

Last month, Muslim rioters had damaged public property worth around Rs 100 crore in seven districts in Uttar Pradesh during the protests. Following the violence, the Uttar Pradesh government had taken strict action against the culprits by attaching their properties for causing violence and arresting several people in connection with the protests.

Read: Anti-CAA riots: Samajwadi Party’s MP Shafiqur Rahman, Firoze Khan booked by UP Police for violence and arson in Sambhal

On December 20, Sambhal, a stronghold of Samajwadi Party, witnessed a large-scale protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act as four buses of UPSRTC and six police vehicles were vandalised by protesters who also hurled stones at security personnel and media persons.

Sambhal SP Yamuna Prasad had then confirmed that the protest was called by Samajwadi and most of the rioters were SP workers. Samajwadi Party (SP) leaders Shafiqur Rahman Barq and Feroz Khan were then booked for instigating violence.