As soon as the news of the death of a Ghaziabad-based journalist came in the morning, the Congress along with other Opposition parties launched a scathing attack over the law and order situation in UP. Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter to hit out at UP CM Yogi Adityanath, calling his regime a “Goonda Raj”. He wrote, “Journalist Vikram Joshi was killed for opposing the molestation of his niece. My condolences to the bereaved family. The promise was of giving ‘Ram Raj’ but gave ‘Gundaraj’.”
Journalist Vikram Joshi was shot at by a group of men who were harassing his niece. Police have arrested 9 people in this regard and suspended the SO.
However, the police action immediately after the shootout failed to cut out much ice, as the family had been approaching the police for the past several months but to no avail. After Rahul Gandhi’s tweet, his party colleague and chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala did a press conference and said: ‘Joshi’s ruthless murder has exposed the face of ‘goonda raj’ in Uttar Pradesh.” He also listed a number of crimes against journalists in the state. Surjewala also said, “When the situation is like this in Ghaziabad which is adjacent to DelhiNCR, then you can guess how gooda raj and jungle raj in Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh are on their peak.”
Congress general secretary and in-charge of UP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had already slammed the government after the attack on the journalist. On Tuesday she tweeted in Hindi, saying: “Ghaziabad falls in NCR. Going by the state of law and order here, one can get an idea of the situation in the entire state of UP. A journalist was shot at because he complained to the police against molestation of his niece. How will a common man feel safe in such a jungle raj.”