Akhilesh Yadav claimed UP chief minister if aware that BJP MLAs are upset with the present regime (File)

Samajwadi Party (SP) President Akhilesh Yadav on Sunday accused Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath of trying to save his chair by doing "injustice" to Muslims in the garb of action taken against people protesting the contentious citizenship law and the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

A number of BJP legislators had staged a sit-in during the recent assembly session after a ruling party lawmaker accused the present regime of harassing him.

Addressing a press conference in Lucknow, Mr Yadav said: "Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath knows that 200 BJP MLAs had staged a sit-in against him inside the UP Assembly. To save his chair, he is doing injustice on Muslims."

The SP leader claimed that if the BJP MLAs were taken into confidence, it would emerge that 300 MLAs were angry with the chief minister.

"He (Yogi Adityanath) is afraid of this and getting injustice done by the police to save his chair," Mr Yadav said.

At least 21 people were killed across the state in widespread clashes during the protests against the amended Citizenship Act and the proposed nationwide NRC.

Akhilesh Yadav said the truth would come out if a probe by a retired high court or Supreme Court judge was conducted into the violence.

"It will also become clear that the people who died in the violence were killed by police bullets. What is the truth that the government wants to hide?" Akhilesh Yadav asked.