The brutal killing of 20-year-old NEET aspirant Deepak Gupta in Gorakhpur has not only shocked Uttar Pradesh but also ripped open the festering debate on cattle smuggling, crime, and the political patronage that once shielded this illicit nexus. As the Yogi Adityanath government swiftly moved to arrest the accused cattle smuggler Abdul Rahim within 24 hours, the spotlight has turned to Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav accused of having nurtured the very ecosystem now being dismantled.
UP BJP chief Bhupendra Chaudhary minced no words: “During SP rule, cattle smugglers were given full protection. Illegal slaughterhouses mushroomed, and cows were openly handed over to butchers. Today, when the BJP government is crushing these networks, SP is restless because their vote bank is under threat. For them, appeasement politics comes before law and order.”
Chaudhary’s attack came in direct response to Akhilesh Yadav’s attempt to question the Gorakhpur encounter where police arrested Rahim after a retaliatory firing. What Akhilesh projected as police excess, the BJP highlighted as swift justice — proof of the government’s “zero tolerance” policy against criminals.
Former UP BJP chief and cabinet minister Swatantra Dev Singh went further, reminding people of the dark days of SP rule: “Uttar Pradesh had become a safe haven for goons, mafias, and land grabbers. Thugs were flown in helicopters and treated like VIPs. Poor people’s lands were seized at gunpoint. Riots like Muzaffarnagar, Bareilly, and Moradabad flourished under SP protection. Today, the same party dares to question Yogi Adityanath’s crackdown on criminals.”
Singh underlined that while SP allowed criminals to loot the state, the BJP government has seized ₹20,000 crore worth of illegal assets and carried out over 8.5 lakh transparent government recruitments. “SP turned postings and transfers into an industry of bribes. We ended that culture. Elections are now fair and transparent — no booth capturing, no fake voter lists,” he declared.
Ironically, Akhilesh himself had once accused the BJP of “protecting cattle smugglers.” Now, with the Gorakhpur case exposing that the accused belong to communities considered a key part of SP’s vote bank, the SP supremo’s shifting stance has come under fire. While he blamed BJP for failing to curb smuggling, his attempt to frame the incident as government negligence has backfired.
BJP leaders argue that his “outrage” is less about justice for the victim and more about safeguarding his core political constituency. “When smugglers get arrested or killed in encounters, Akhilesh goes into silent mode. He is worried about his vote bank, not law and order,” a senior BJP leader said.
The Gorakhpur tragedy has reignited public memory of how the SP regime normalised crime. From providing cover to cattle mafias to presiding over communal riots, the party has repeatedly been accused of sacrificing law and order for appeasement politics. The BJP has accused Akhilesh of speaking up only when action is taken against criminals from certain communities — a pattern that fuels mistrust among the majority population.
Even as Akhilesh tries to deflect attention by alleging BJP’s links to beef exports and land scams, critics point out that India’s beef export industry flourished during SP-Congress rule at the Centre. The SP government in UP notoriously looked the other way as cattle smuggling gangs expanded their networks, often clashing with villagers and police.
The Gorakhpur killing is not an isolated case. Cattle smuggling in UP has often been accompanied by murder, rioting, and land grabbing. In this case, the victim — a young student with dreams of becoming a doctor lost his life in a confrontation triggered by smugglers. For villagers, this is not just about one incident; it is about years of suffering under a system where smugglers operated with political immunity.
The contrast between the two regimes could not be sharper:
SP era: Rampant smuggling, illegal slaughterhouses, communal riots, criminal patronage, land grabbing.
BJP era: Crackdown on mafias, Rs 20,000 crore worth of seizures, transparent recruitments, and a visible decline in riots.
