Policemen at India Gate on Sunday. Picture by Prem Singh

Lucknow, Sept. 21: The emergence of Azamgarh as a terrorist cradle has jolted Mayavati out of her preoccupation with Delhi politics. She today blamed the Samajwadi Party for the rise of militancy in Uttar Pradesh.

Delhi police had claimed yesterday that the Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Delhi bombings were carried out by a single module of 13 militants, all of them from Azamgarh in eastern Uttar Pradesh.

To add to Mayavati’s embarrassment, her police were caught unawares by the allegations despite the arrest of another Ahmedabad blast accused, Mufti Abu Basheer, from Azamgarh a month ago.

“We’ll take more effective action, but terrorism in Uttar Pradesh began during the tenure of the Samajwadi Party and its growth today was a gift from the previous state government,” Mayavati said.

According to a central government report, Uttar Pradesh has witnessed the highest number of militant attacks outside Jammu and Kashmir in the past few years.

Mayavati is under attack from the BJP and the Congress for spending her time in Delhi and other states to tie up alliances for the Lok Sabha polls rather than tackle militancy at home. Hostile media reports, too, have made her jittery.

She today accused the Samajwadis of resisting her efforts to crack down on militants, referring to the party’s agitation in Azamgarh after Basheer’s arrest.

She also blamed the UPA government which refused to ratify one of her anti-terror initiatives — a tougher law.

Azmi to Abu

Azamgarh had produced writers and poets such as Rahul Sankrityayan, Kaifi Azmi, Ayodhya Singh Upadhyaya “Hariaudh” and Allama Shibli Nomani, former state police chief Prakash Singh said, adds PTI. Singh rued that Azamgarh was now better known as gangster Abu Salem’s home district. Past and present dons like Haji Mastan and Dawood Ibrahim, too, have relatives here.

Inspector-general Praveen Singh said Abu Hashim, the first person arrested under anti-terror law Tada, Shahid Badra, the first Simi president, and Gorakhpur blast suspects Khalid Mujahid and Tariq Kasmi were all arrested from Azamgarh.