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Policemen Of One Caste Are Being Suspended Or Transferred, Akhilesh Hits Out At Adityanath Govt

"I didn't realise officials are so good at sweeping."
Pawan Kumar / Reuters

Samajwadi Party leader and former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh Akhilesh Yadav raised questions about the suspension of Himanshu Kumar, an IPS officer of the state cadre, at a press conference in Lucknow on Saturday, ANI reported.

The allegation, made days after Hindutva firebrand Yogi Adityanath was appointed the CM of the state by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), hits at the promise of inclusive governance by the party.

"Only policemen of one particular caste are being suspended or transferred. Everybody knows. But will you report that?" Akhilesh asked the media.

Kumar has been suspended days after he alleged that seniors are targeting subordinates of a specific caste. The Uttar Pradesh Police had earlier launched an investigation into the allegations made by the 2010-batch IPS officer in a series of tweets. The reason given behind his transfer was indiscipline.

Himanshu, who was recently transferred to the DGP HQ in Lucknow by the Election Commission, later deleted his tweet. He was earlier posted as the Superintendent of Police in Mainpuri and Firozabad.

On Adityanath carrying out a suddhikaran (purification) ceremony of the CM's residence before moving in, Akhilesh said he had no problem with such rituals, which are common enough. He added that he hoped along with the cows which have followed the new CM from the Gorakhnath Math to Lucknow, the peacocks on the premises would also be looked after.

He let loose another barb at the CM and his officials, who were spotted sweeping his new home. "I didn't realise officials are so good at sweeping," he quipped in Hindi, "If I'd known that, I'd have given them a ton of sweeping to do."

He said remarked on the absence of the "achche din", touted widely by the BJP. "Where are the 'achche din' that were promised three years ago?" he asked. "Instead people have been given brooms ... in the name of Swachh Bharat and are being given lessons in Yoga."

In the recently-concluded Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the Samajwadi Party faced a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which won 312 seats in the 403-member Assembly. SP came up with a mere 47 seats in the tally.

Earlier Akhilesh had also dismissed a joke by Adityanath about his age. The newly-crowned CM had said he, aged 44, had come between Akhilesh (43) and Rahul Gandhi (45) of the Congress and ruined the electoral prospects of the SP-Congress alliance.

"The CM said he's a year older to me; but he's much behind in work even if he is older in age," Akhilesh had said at the time.

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