BJP MPs clash with SP, JD MPs over Kanpur desecration

Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party and those of the Samajwadi Party and the Janata Dal clashed in the Lok Sabha on Friday after the leader of the Opposition alleged that certain United Front constituents were behind the desecration of the Ambedkar statue in Kanpur.

During zero hour, Atal Bihari Vajpayee said reports from Kanpur suggested that JD and Samajwadi Party activists have been arrested in connection with the incident. Certain political parties, the former prime minister alleged, were bent upon creating an atmosphere of violence in Uttar Pradesh.

Vajpayee said efforts were also made to deface former prime minister Indira Gandhi's statue and also to blow up a statue of Mahatma Gandhi.

"All these attempts are an indication that certain political parties are behind the sinister move to destabilise the peace and this should not be allowed," Vajpayee said.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Srikant Jena said it was most unfortunate that Vajpayee had chosen to make such an unsubstantiated allegation in Parliament.

Thereafter, the MPs argued vociferously, with allegations flying around about other parties's involvement in the desecration, despite Speaker P A Sangma cautioning members to exercise restraint.

According to an official release, the National Security has been invoked in the case of the two men arrested in connection with the disturbance on Thursday over the desecration of the Ambedkar statue.

Those arrested, Babulal Ahirwar, former president of the SP's Kanpur city unit, and Madan Mohan Chaudhary, former president of the Kanpur unit of the Janata Dal, allegedly blackened the statue of Dr Ambedkar and sat in protest on the spot along with 50-60 others.

After the protest, the two men tried to damage the statues of Mahatma Gandhi and Indira Gandhi, the release said.

Meanwhile, the United Front has decided to send an eight-member parliamentary delegation to Uttar Pradesh to assess the law and order situation there. The names of the committee members are to be announced on Monday.