Hours after the brutal murder of two sadhus in a temple in Bulandshahr, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray spoke to his Uttar Pradesh counterpart Yogi Adityanath and demanded action against the accused.
"What has happened is inhuman, I spoke to UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath and expressed my shock and concern over the event," tweeted Thackeray, who is the Shiv Sena president.
Thackeray also assured that he has spoken to him and demanded strict action against the accused. "Please take action as per law and also ensure that no one gives a communal colour to it," he said.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut described the incident as brutal and inhuman.
"I request all not to do politics over this (Bulandshahr) incident like it was done in case of Palghar... the nation is fighting Corona... please stay calm.... (UP chief minister) Yogi Adityanath will take strict action," he said.
State home minister Anil Deshmukh of the NCP said that it was quite distressing to hear about the murder of sadhus. "The killing of two sadhus in UP's Bulandshahr is quite distressing. We trust Yogi Adityanath will take action as swiftly as we took in Palghar. We hope those who made inflammatory communal statements after Palghar will curb such tendencies," he tweeted.
Maharashtra Congress general secretary and spokesperson Sachin Sawant wanted to know why the BJP leaders are silent over the issue.
"What is the difference between the Bulandshahr and Palghar incident? After the Palghar incident, Union home minister Amit Shah spoke Maharashtra CM, has he made a similar call to UP CM? Why there is no tweet from BJP leaders condemning the incident?," Sawant asked in a press statement.
Is it not the intelligence failure of the UP government, he asked, and why no one is asking for resignation of UP CM now.
It may be recalled in the Gadchinchale village in Dahanu in Palghar district, nearly 120 kms from downtown Mumbai, on April 16, two sadhus and their driver were killed in an incident of mob lynching in the tribal area.
Later it came to light that the two sadhus were from the Shree Panch Dashnam Juna Akhada - and Yogi Adityanath spoke to Thackeray and demanded action.
Leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis of BJP also took up the issue and came down heavily on the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. The Palghar police has arrested 110 persons including nine juveniles.
The Maharashtra government later handed over the probe to State-CID and suspended two police officers.
In fact, Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh had to release the list of accused to deny that there were Muslims among the attackers. The BJP and VHP has also accused the Left wing of spreading terror in tribal areas of Palghar.