Court will decide if anyone is mafia: Akhilesh Yadav when asked about Mukhtar Ansari

Former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav appeared to dodge questions on mafia-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari at the third edition of the Republic Summit. When asked to put his views on Mukhtar Ansari, Yadav said, "I am not a police or DGP to issue the top-ten mafia list and it is upto courts to decide, whether someone is mafia or not."

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Yadav denied that he and his party issued the list of top-ten mafias of Uttar Pradesh. He responded by saying that he and his party are not police and it is the duty of police to issue the list of mafias. Futher, when he was asked to put his views on whether he considers Mukhtar Ansari as a mafia or not, he chose to play safe by saying that it is upto the courts to decide. 

To tackle mafia, govt has to follow law and order: Akhilesh Yadav

Speaking at the event, the SP chief stated that there should be no discrimination in dealing with mafias. He even went on to question, saying, 'Isn't mafia in every political party?'

When asked if he supports the Yogi Adityanath government's crackdown on mafia, Akhilesh said, "He is against mafias but there should not be discrimination in dealing with them. It should not be like mafia plays cricket with them (politicians), have snacks with them in jail. There should not be hate politics just for votes. There is no good mafia, or a bad mafia." He added that there is no objection in inquiry against mafia. To tackle mafia, the govt has to follow law and order, he said.

"Define what is mafia. Isn’t mafia in every party? Everyone is against mafias, people are against mafias, I am against Mafias, but there shouldn't be any discrimination among the mafias. Don’t do hate politics for the sake of votes," asserted the SP supremo.

Putting out a question, Akhilesh Yadav said, "I admit that there should not be mafia politics, I tried to fight against it. I gave a world-class response system to the police, Dial 100. Was it so that law and order worsens? What does the NCRB data say? Why don't you talk about parties?"

Akhilesh Yadav attacked the Yogi government on the issue of development by saying, "If UP will develop, the nation will develop, since the road to the government at the Centre goes through UP. The road from Agra to Lucknow which was an excellent design by the then Samajwadi Party's government. BSP and SP did most of the developmental projects in UP. Remember that Lucknow metro which was built by the Samajwadi govt has not progressed an inch in this (Yogi) government."

On being asked about meeting other political party leaders for opposition unity ahead of the 2024 polls, Yadav responded, "What's wrong with meeting political parties? There are alliances in democracy. BJP also has small parties as its allies in UP. Winning and losing is a part of democracy. Opposition united against Congress when the party was in power, today we are uniting against the BJP. I will keep meeting Nitish Kumar and Arvind Kejriwal and find a way. I am hopeful that parties will find a way to fight BJP."