Samajwadi Party national president and former UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav recently paid a special visit and expressed his deepest condolences to the family of #VivekTiwari, an executive at Apple company who was allegedly killed by UP Police personnel in Lucknow.
Expressing his heartfelt sympathies on the loss of a young MNC executive, popular socialist leader consoled the members of the bereaved family. He appealed the court to take a suo motu notice of the incident, which has put Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in the dock with widespread criticism over the misuse of power by UP Police.
Media had already reported the benevolent stance of Akhilesh when he demanded an ex gratia amount of Rs 5 Crore for the affected family. Besides, he demanded the UP government to provide a respectable job to the wife of the deceased.
Akhilesh Yadav further criticised the BJP government’s callous attitude towards administration and the crumbling law and order machinery in the state.
He said, “Samajwadi Party had been saying ever since the new government was sworn in the office that nobody, high or low, was safe. It’s not a frivolous matter that Chief Minister and deputy chief minister of Uttar Pradesh themselves are charged with serious cases in their political record. Innocents are dying in false shootouts. CM himself has no qualms in speaking the tone of a bully on the floor of the house, such as ‘Thonk do’ (Go, Kill!). Police having gone wayward in arranging fake encounter cases could only be attributed to the hectoring of CM.”
Expressing concerns over human rights violations and the rising cases of fake police encounters, the former UP CM said, “As a consequence, the BJP government has earned a dubious distinction of receiving a maximum number of notice from the National Human Rights Commission. No other previous government have ever earned such low-scale notoriety. It’s a serious blot on the skill of the present ruler. Encounters are happening due to whim and fancy of CM. Unfortunately, those being targeted in the killing are not those crime lords carrying bounty on their heads. Rather those felling to the bullets of the reckless police are the innocent citizens who are later being implicated in fabricated cases.”
“About the killing of Vivek Tiwari, only the state government is responsible. The entire country is agitated with the tragedy. One often wonders what kind of government is this under whose watch a spate of murder and suicide of all scales are taking place at a breakneck pace. Somewhere in the state, an SDM commits suicide whereas farmers and Shiksha Mitra are taking their lives at regular intervals, not to speak of the desperation and despondency of the jobless youngsters,” he added.
Akhilesh Yadav also demanded a fair compensation package for surviving kith and kin of all the victims of fake encounters in the state.
“Vivek Tiwari’s killing has brought international condemnation to the state of Uttar Pradesh. Our heads are hanging in shame over the brutal incident. For such heinous crime in a democracy there is only one punishment: The Resignation of the state government,” he asserted.