Selective outrage directed at one CM won’t solve a problem many parties, CMs have winked at
The killings of gangster Atiq Ahmed and his brother by three other criminals posing as journalists, and the earlier police encounter that killed Atiq’s son and an associate, have drawn the usual outrage from “liberals”. Some of the outrage is warranted, but it says more about their political predilections than real concern for the state of law and order in India’s biggest state, where the chief minister has vowed to eliminate mafia syndicates at any cost.
Why the ‘free hand’ given
The criticism has ranged from accusing the Yogi Adityanath government of targeting one community, to alleging that the state police now have a blank cheque to kill anyone they consider a criminal. Earlier, when another criminal, Vikas Dubey, was killed in an encounter, the opposition talked about his caste, and how this may cost the BJP the Brahmin vote. In the Atiq case, it is odd that tears should be shed for a mafia don whose criminal antecedents are said to have begun as far back as in 1979.
Why the ‘free hand’ given
The criticism has ranged from accusing the Yogi Adityanath government of targeting one community, to alleging that the state police now have a blank cheque to kill anyone they consider a criminal. Earlier, when another criminal, Vikas Dubey, was killed in an encounter, the opposition talked about his caste, and how this may cost the BJP the Brahmin vote. In the Atiq case, it is odd that tears should be shed for a mafia don whose criminal antecedents are said to have begun as far back as in 1979.