Bulandshahr legislator Sanjay Singh has called the open letter by 82 civil servants demanding UP CM Yogi Adityanath’s resignation ‘politically motivated’.
New Delhi: Two days after 82 former civil servants sought Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s resignation for his “failure to abide by the Constitution”, in light of the recent mob violence over alleged cow slaughter in Bulandshahr, the BJP MLA from the area has hit back.
In the letter released Thursday, Sanjay Singh questioned the retired civil servants for noticing the death of two men, but ignoring the fate of 21 cows who also allegedly lost their lives.
Alleging that the signatories had political ambitions, he also asked them to “have the guts to contest an election”.
The former civil servants had written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi Tuesday, demanding the resignation of Adityanath.
“The chief minister of the state acts as a high priest of the agenda of bigotry and majoritarian supremacy — an agenda which now seems to take precedence over everything else,” they had written.
‘They made cow slaughter a non-issue’
Singh said that the civil servants’ open letter ignored context. In his own open letter, Singh said the mob violence “was an act of sudden provocation due to killing of gau mata”.
“They made cow slaughter a non-issue,” Singh told ThePrint. “The incident wouldn’t have happened if cows weren’t killed in the area. How could they omit this from the letter?”
In his letter, Singh compared a cow roving in a field to a naughty child at home that damages property, and said a cow might damage crops, but farmers don’t say anything as long as it stays alive. He said the people were thankful to have a chief minister who protected cows.
“We are Hindus, we have that sentiment for cows. Reaction toh aayega (you will get a reaction),” he said.
Also read: Yogi Adityanath must resign for Bulandshahr violence, 82 retired civil servants urge Modi
‘Ignorant of the Constitution’
Completely dismissing the call for Adityanath’s resignation, Singh hit back at the retired civil servants for being “ignorant” of the Constitution.
Asking for the resignation of a democratically-elected chief minister is unconstitutional, he said, adding that a two-level inquiry into the death of police officer Subodh Kumar Singh was already underway.
“They are overly politically ambitious people and probably in touch with some political party,” Singh alleged.
“Most of these civil servants are from outside UP, what do they know of the state?”