Ahead of UP Polls, Sting Shows Ministers Willing to Spark Riots

One of the leaders from the ruling Samajwadi Party quoted five lakh rupees to orchestrate violence in the state.

File photo 2002 Gujarat riots. Photo used for representational purpose. (Photo: Reuters)

As Uttar Pradesh gears up for the assembly polls in 2017, a sting operation by India Today on Monday exposed lawmakers cashing in on the communal fervour in the state.

The expose shows three leaders from different organisations willing to orchestrate riots in an attempt to stoke communal fires in a state already sensitive to polarised caste and communal divide.

It shows a reporter posing as a filmmaker approaching Parminder Arya of the Hindu Swabhiman Sangathan. The reporter said he wished to disrupt the screening of a documentary film disputing the birth of Ram in India.

What follows is Arya assuring him that an attacked will be “staged” in UP.

Let us know whose clothes are to be torn. We’ll do that. Sometimes, boys go berserk. There are chances of people getting seriously injured in such situations. But the price has to be right.

Parminder Arya, Hindu Swabhiman Sangathan

The India Today report also claims that Arya is not alone. There is a massive industry operating in the state, that charges money for manufacturing violence and sparking riots.

Another leader of Samajwadi Party, Hafiz Mohammed Irfan, who is also the president of the party’s Haridwar unit quoted “five lakh rupees” to orchestrate violence.