Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday, 29 May 2026, invoked the 2005 Mau riots in a post on X, alleging that criminals operating under political protection had disrupted a Ramleela event and carried out the killing of innocent Hindus in the district.

Writing in Hindi, the Chief Minister stated: 'मऊ के लोग भूले नहीं होंगे' ('The people of Mau will not have forgotten') — recalling what he described as a 'vile attempt to set Mau ablaze in 2005,' in which mafia elements allegedly 'created disruption in the organisation of Ramleela and massacred innocent Hindus under the protection of the government in power.'

Context

The 2005 Mau riots broke out in October 2005 in Mau district, a textile-trading town in eastern Uttar Pradesh, amid communal clashes linked to religious processions. The violence resulted in multiple deaths and drew widespread condemnation. The Samajwadi Party government, led at the time by Mulayam Singh Yadav, was in office during the episode and faced sustained criticism over its handling of law and order.

Ramleela — the annual public enactment of the Ramayana — has historically been a flashpoint for procession-related disputes in parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh. Yogi Adityanath's post frames the 2005 violence specifically as an attack on that religious observance, enabled by what he characterises as state-level patronage of criminal networks.

Policy Backdrop

Since assuming office in 2017, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has made anti-mafia operations a centrepiece of his administration's law-and-order narrative. Sustained drives against organised crime syndicates — many of them identified with alleged political protection during earlier SP and BSP governments — have been repeatedly cited by the BJP as evidence of a governance transformation in Uttar Pradesh.

The Yogi government has frequently referenced pre-2017 incidents, including the 2005 Mau violence, to draw a contrast between what it describes as an era of 'mafia raj' and the policing record since 2017. This messaging has been a consistent feature of BJP political communication in the state.

Stakeholders and Impact

Residents of Mau district — which has a significant Muslim weaver population alongside a large Hindu majority — remain the most directly affected constituency in any political invocation of the 2005 riots. Communal harmony monitors and civil society groups in the region have long called for sensitive handling of references to the violence to prevent renewed tensions.

The post, which includes a video, is likely to reopen public debate about accountability for the 2005 events and the broader question of organised crime's historical relationship with political power in Uttar Pradesh.

What's Next

With Uttar Pradesh assembly elections scheduled for 2027, political observers will watch whether this post signals the beginning of a more sustained BJP campaign centred on the 2005 Mau violence and the governance record of the SP era. Any official commemorative events or further statements timed around the October anniversary of the riots would reinforce that reading. The Samajwadi Party has not yet responded publicly to the Chief Minister's remarks.