Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday said that the violence in Bulandshahr, in which a police inspector was shot dead by a mob, was a "political conspiracy" and blamed his rivals for it, without naming them, even as as many as 83 ex-bureaucrats accused him of working like a "pujari" (priest) and demanded his resignation for failing to "abide by the Constitution."
"The violence was a political conspiracy hatched by those, who have lost political relevance in the state... the government is committed to maintain law and order... we have exposed the conspirators," Adityanath told reporters.
The issue rocked the state Assembly on Wednesday, leading to the adjournment of the House till Thursday.
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The chief minister had earlier termed the violence an "accident" and rejected assertions that it was a case of lynching. A senior cop was shot dead by the mob during the clashes in Bulandshahr on December 3, following the recovery of animal bones from a sugarcane field near Chingrawati police out-post.
Adityanath, however, came in for a scathing attack from the ex-bureaucrats, who wrote an open letter seeking his resignation.
The chief minister is working like a pujari (priest)... he has failed to abide by the Constitution, to which he has sworn allegiance... this can happen if we build a groundswell of public opinion by which we hold him accountable for his conduct, and compel him to resign," the letter by the ex-bureaucrats said.
They also "reminded" the bureaucracy about their constitutional duty to "fearlessly implement the rule of law" in the state.
The former bureaucrats also urged the Allahabad High Court to take suo motu cognisance of the Bulandshahr violence, and order a judicial probe under its supervision, so that the truth could come out and the guilty could be punished.
Two people, including an inspector, were killed when a mob attacked the police out-post after animal bones, which the mob claimed were those of a cow and a calf, were recovered from the field.