Samajwadi Party president and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav Wednesday (April 06) defended Ahmed Murtaza Abbasi, who had attacked the Gorakhnath temple in Gorakhpur on Sunday (April 3).
Yadav said that Abbasi is mentally unstable and undergoing treatment. “His father said he has a psychiatric problem, dealing with bipolar issue, I feel we need to pay heed to that as well (for probe)…BJP is a party that exaggerates,” ANI quoted Yadav.
Earlier, Abbasi’s father had said that Abbasi was undergoing treatment for depression, and he had prevailing mental health issues.
“He is not mentally stable. Since childhood, he is suffering from depression. He also received medical treatment. Due to some developments, he believed that police were after him. He had no planning and did this due to his current mental state,” ANI quoted Abbasi’s father, Munir Ahmed Abbasi.
The investigation in the case has revealed that Abbasi was inspired by hardline Islamic preacher Zakir Naik and British terrorist Abu Hamza.
Just before the attack on the Gorakhnath temple, Abbasi had watched videos of Abu Hamza.
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya criticised Akhilesh’s statement saying Akhilesh Yadav has always supported terrorists.
“Akhilesh Yadav Ji & Samajwadi Party has always been linked to terrorists. He took back cases during the 2013 terrorism attacks… the Gorakhnath temple attack is not ordinary, it was very serious. I condemn his attempts to boost the morale of terrorists,” Maurya said.
He further added, “Akhilesh Ji shouldn’t so openly pass comments on an accused. He is a former CM. Our security personnel caught him by risking their lives after he was linked to terrorist orgs. His statement is cheap & deplorable. Samajwadi Party will become ‘Samapt’ party.”
The BJP National Spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said that it wouldn’t be a surprise if Akhilesh Yadav goes to meet the family of Abbasi. “Those who liberally use “Hindu lyncher” & “Hindu terror”, want entire Hindu community to say “Not in my name” have a very different yardstick for slogan chanting Murtaza! One wonders if Akhilesh will meet Murtaza’s family too like he had with the father of Ahmedabad Blast convict,” Poonawalla said.
Before the general elections in 2014, then UP CM Akhilesh Yadav had proposed to take back cases from those accused of terror activities.
