"Jungle raj" and "mafia raj" were some of the words used to describe Uttar Pradesh and even India by opposition leaders on Sunday as they hit out at the BJP government over the killing of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad and his brother in front of policemen and media in Prayagraj district.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said stringent action should be taken against those involved in the incident.

"Jungle Raj under BJP Yogi govt in UP. Its USP: Encounter killings, Bulldozer politics & patronising criminals. Enforce rule of law; apprehend perpetrators & punish them stringently," he said in a tweet TMC MP Mouha Moitra said the country has been turned into "mafia raj".

"BJP has turned India into a mafia republic. I will say it here, I will say it abroad, I will say it everywhere because it is the truth. 2 men in custody shot dead in front of a zillion policemen & cameras - this is the death of the rule of law," she said.

Moitra also said that she can even believe that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got the shooting done simply to "deflect attention" from repercussions to the Satyapal Malik interview.

"Nothing, just nothing, is beyond this government," she said.

The two brothers were shot dead at point-blank range by three men posing as journalists in the middle of a media interaction on Saturday night while police personnel were escorting them to a medical college here for a checkup.

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