Reacting sharply to the letter written by 104 ex-bureaucrats to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath stating that the state had become the ''epicentre of politics of hate and bigotry'', UP deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya on Wednesday said that it was the ''handiwork of the anti-Modi gang'' and an attempt to ''defame'' the state.
''Making such appeals and writing such letters have now become a fashion...the objectives of such letters are only to defame the government,'' Maurya said.
''Whenever the centre or the BJP governments in the state do anything for the benefit of the people, the award wapsi (return) gang and the tukde-tukde gang become active and start making appeals and write letters,'' the minister said.
Also Read | 'UP epicentre of politics of hate': 104 ex-IAS officers write to Yogi Adityanath on 'Love Jihad' law
He said that these bureaucrats had retired and they now needed to take rest rather than advising the government. ''We have many serving bureaucrats to advise the government,'' he added.
''These people work at the behest of the anti-BJP and anti-Modi gang,'' the minister remarked.
As many as 104 former IAS officers have written to Adityanath demanding withdrawal of the anti-conversion ordinance terming it unconstitutional. The letter has mentioned some incidents of arrest of Muslim youth on charges of allegedly luring of Hindu girls into marriage and conversion.
Several cases of alleged 'Love Jihad' were reported from different parts in UP since the new law came into effect.
At least two cases of 'Love Jihad' failed to pass the initial legal test in the state. In one of the cases, the court-ordered release of two arrested Muslim youth after the police failed to produce any evidence against them and in another, the court stayed the arrest of a Muslim man, who had been booked under the new law.
The new law provided for a maximum imprisonment of ten years and also a fine for religious conversion through deceit, force, allurement or any other fraudulent means or for the purpose of marriage.
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