Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Thursday, 7 April, condemned Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav's "attempts to boost the morale of terrorists" after the latter questioned the handling of the attack on Gorakhnath Temple and downplayed the incident.
The statement drew a sharp reaction from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which said that the SP chief was more concerned about vote bank appeasement than about national security.
'BJP Dragging Matter Unnecessarily': Akhilesh Yadav
In a statement, Yadav had urged the state government to "consider that the father of the accused has said that his son was of unsound mental health and 'unstable' state of mind".
"Murtaza's father has said his son has a psychiatric problem. I think that aspect has to be looked into. The BJP is the party which drags the matter unnecessarily," Yadav said, according to IANS.
'Attack Not Ordinary, Very Serious': KP Maurya
Maurya claimed that Yadav and the SP has always been linked to terrorists and added that he took back cases during the 2013 terrorism attacks.
The Gorakhnath Temple attack is not ordinary, it was very serious, Maurya stated, according to news agency ANI.
Maurya further said that Yadav should not pass comments so openly on an accused, reminding him that he is a former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.
"Our security personnel caught him by risking their lives after he was linked to terrorist organisations. His statement is cheap and deplorable," he said, reported ANI.
What Had Happened?
An IIT-Bombay graduate, identified as Ahmad Murtaza Abbasi, was taken into custody in Gorakhpur on Sunday, 3 April, after he attacked two police officers stationed outside the Gorakhnath temple with a sharp weapon while raising religious slogans, the police said.
In a video of the incident, Murtaza can be seen hurling the weapon and trying to attack the officers, while constables and civilians can be seen pelting stones and bricks at him to try to overpower him.
Murtaza has been charged by the Uttar Pradesh Police with attempt to murder and promoting enmity on the grounds of religion.
Later, the UP government in a press release said that the attack was part of a serious conspiracy, and labelled it a "terrorist incident."
Meanwhile, Murtaza's father said that his son was not mentally stable.
The incident took place at the Gorakhnath temple, the headquarters of the Gorakhnath mutt, of which Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath is the head priest.
Abbasi has now been brought to Lucknow to the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) headquarters for further investigations.
(With inputs from ANI and IANS.)
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