In the line of fire for failing to take action against his party MLA Irfan Solanki in connection with the doctors’ strike in the state, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav on Thursday hit out at the media.
When questioned by reporters on the issue, Mulayam hit back saying “why is the media giving importance to the doctors’ strike?”
When reporters pointed out that over 50 people have died in the state due to the strike that started on March 1, the SP chief asked: “Has someone from the family of any media men died due to the strike?”
“If you stop publishing reports of the strike, deaths would automatically come down,” Mulayam said further.
He refused to comment on SP legislator Irfan Solanki.
Doctors in Uttar Pradesh earlier today called off their strike, a day after the Allahabad High Court directed them to return to work.
They had gone on strike on March 1 after supporters of the legislator and Solanki himself bashed up some junior doctors at the Hallet Hospital in Kanpur on February 28.
The subsequent cane charge by police angered the junior doctors further and doctors across the state joined the strike.
The Lucknow bench of the high court also ordered a judicial probe into the doctors’ grievances and the police lathicharge on them.
The court had also ordered the transfer of the inspector general, deputy inspector general, and Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Kanpur Yashaswi Yadav.
Further, 24 jailed doctors have been released unconditionally.
