Mumbai, April 30: CM Yogi Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh Government has announced that there will be the round-the-clock power supply to the Muslim-dominated areas, in accordance with their forthcoming festival of ‘Eid’. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in UP has stated that their governance is different from previous Samajwadi Party (SP) government, citing the argument of ‘appeasement of one community’.

Reportedly, the move to provide 24x7 electricity to Muslim-dominated areas is also seen as a political one. There are Kairana Lok Sabha and Noorpur Assembly by-elections held in some time. Both the areas habituate a considerable size of the Muslim population. The by-polls in these constituencies are to be held on May 28 – a day that will fall during the holy month of Ramzan.

UP Energy Minister Srikant Sharma said that there were specific guidelines issued to ensure that the power is available throughout the month and there is no power break during the month of Ramzan. Srikant Sharma said, “We have enough power available to us. It is to ensure power supply, especially during morning hours when Muslims offer prayers and have ‘seheri’. We don’t discriminate against any community on the basis of religion or caste.”

Given that the move to provide unabated power supply in Muslim majority areas comes at an opportune time, the opposition took no time to take pot-shots at BJP government’s move. Ahmad Hasan, an SP member, said that the BJP was trying to communalise the situation by providing uninterrupted power supply during one festival. Akhilesh Pratap Singh, Congress leader, said that the BJP is all about lies and that the party was trying to give it a communal tone.

The recent move by the BJP government might have set a cat amongst pigeons and given fodder to those unavoidable controversies. Nonetheless, it was Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who, in one of his public rallies last year, had then alleged the then SP government of providing power supply was unequal and that no religion or community should be devoid of such things (electricity).

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 30, 2018 12:50 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).