Over the past few months, the communal situation in Uttar Pradesh has gone from bad to worse with the RSS_BJP-VHP doing everything possible to spread communal hate and violence across the state. In the backdrop of this volatile communal atmosphere, the festivals of Dussehra and Bakrid fell close to each other this year (on 3 and 6 October respectively). Prior to these festivals, there was an incident in Sansarpur village of Lakhimpur Kheeri district where communal passions were deliberately stoked. On 29 September, shops owned by poor people belonging to the minority community were looted and their standing paddy crops destroyed in this village, which falls under the Gola tehsil. All this acts, which were justified in the name of ‘cow protection’, were perpetrated under full protection provided by the state administration and local police. The work of inflaming passions was done by Sangh-BJP members and by the BSP candidate in the last Lok Sabha election. On 30 September the CPI(ML) held a protest dharna in front of Lakhimpur Kheeri headquarters demanding justice for the victims, compensation for their losses, and strong action against those guilty of inciting communal passions and also against the police in Mailani thana who protected the guilty. In view of the communal incidents in Kheeri and other places in the State, and the grave apprehensions regarding communal harmony and safety of minorities in the festive season, the CPI(ML) State unit released a statement in Lucknow on 1 October demanding that the government put in place a specific strategy to maintain communal peace and harmony.
However, given the inept law and order administration of the Akhilesh government, communal forces attempted to incite riots in Kushinagar, Bhadohi, Mirzapur, Faizabad, Gonda, Allahabad and other places, using the occasion of the traditional immersion of Ganesh idols as a cover. Even as the administration and police of the SP government failed to control the riot-mongering, it was only the reasoning, wisdom, and restraint of the common people that averted any serious communal incident. On the eve of the Bakrid festival, on 5 October 2014, CPI(ML) once again released a statement praising the people for discomfiting the evil intentions of communal forces and condemning the attitude of the administration, and asking the government to make strong and alert arrangements for safety, keeping the Bakrid festival in view.
