BSP supremo Mayawati, who was hitherto 'soft' on the Uttar Pradesh government, on Thursday joined the chorus of Opposition leaders in demanding the resignation of chief minister Yogi Adityanath over the latter's alleged failure to ensure safety of the women, especially those from the SC community, in the state.
In a statement, Mayawati urged prime minister Narendra Modi and the BJP leadership to either 'sack' Adityanath or ask him to 'resign' owning moral responsibility for the rising crimes against the women in the state.
''BJP should send Adityanath back to Gorakhpur Mutt (he is the mahant of the Mutt)... else he may be asked to supervise the construction of the Ram Temple at Ayodhya,'' she said.
''Instead of the rule of law, mafia and goonda elements are ruling the state...the Dalits are being persecuted,'' Mayawati said.
Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Congress have also demanded that Adityanath should resign.
UP minister Siddharth Nath Singh, however, hit back at the Opposition parties and asked them not to play politics on the unfortunate incidents.
Singh justified the police action against the former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and party general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and said that they could not have been allowed to march on the expressway with thousands of others during a pandemic.