By IANS,
Lucknow : Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati Thursday withdrew a new anti-terror law even as she accused the Congress-led central government of “double standards” for obstructing it.
The state government sent a letter to the central government seeking withdrawal of the Uttar Pradesh Control of Organised Crime Act (UPCOCA), sent earlier for the president’s assent.
“The special law was sought to be brought in largely to contain the large-scale lawlessness perpetuated by organised crime mafia under the misrule of my predecessor Mulayam Singh Yadav,” she told a press conference at her residence here Thursday evening.
“What I inherited from Mulayam Singh Yadav was a regime where organised crime was rampant and the rulers were blatantly extending patronage to the our laws. Therefore the need was felt for a special law to check them,” she said.
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government formulated the UPCOCA that was formally passed by the state assembly in March.
“Since such a law was already in existence in the Congress-ruled Maharashtra, we felt it could have impact on the then crime-prone Uttar Pradesh too but the union home ministry continued to put hurdles in its path.
“In the meantime we got down to instilling the fear of law in the minds of the otherwise unbridled outlaws through strict enforcement of the existing laws.”
Accusing the central government of “double standards”, Mayawati said: “While it was of the view that such a law was not needed, I don’t understand why it has failed to withdraw the same in Maharashtra which took the lead in introducing such a law in any state in the country.”