Three BJP MPs and a legislator were detained on Friday by police as they were trying to head to a village in Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad district where communal tension is at a peak, an official said.

 

Police detained Amroha MP Kanwar Singh Tanwar, Rampur MP Nepal Singh and Sambhal MP Satyal Saini, along with Sardhana legislator Sangeet Som, as a preventive measure, a state home department official here told scribes. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders were trying to go to Kanth village to hold a "maha panchayat" which has already been banned by the state government. 

 

Tensions had escalated in Kanth after members of two communities on June 27 clashed over installation of loudspeakers at a religious place. The loudspeakers were subsequently removed by the administration, acting on complaints by the other community. 

 

Siding with the aggrieved community, the BJP had announced holding of the maha panchayat July 4, which led to the Akhilesh Yadav government deploying heavy police force in the region to prevent any trouble.

 

Assailing the move, BJP state president Laxmikant Bajpayi, who took over the protests a few days back, alleged that the state government and the district administration were out to appease a certain community. 

 

As the two proposals submitted by the party had been denied, they were now headed for more intense protests, he added. BJP state unit spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said: "This government cannot be allowed to go all out to appease one community and trample upon the feelings of others." 

 

He further alleged that yet again like in Muzaffarnagar, the state government had failed to sort out a minor issue and had allowed it to spin out of control, a result of which is the public anger in the region.  Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader in the state assembly Pradip Mathur, however, alleged that the BJP was trying to foment trouble in the state, with an eye to the 2017 state assembly elections. 

 

"They have to be stopped at all cost, especially to protect the secular fabric of the state," he added.

 

Leader of Opposition in the assembly Swami Prasad Maurya, however, alleged that there was a tacit understanding between BJP and the ruling Samajwadi Party (SP). 

 

"This cat and mouse game has been going on for long and was at play during the Lok Sabha elections. if the state government was serious about secularism, they should act tough against the BJP and its leaders," said the Bahujan Samaj Party leader.