They promised Ram-raj and delivered gunda-raj: That’s how Rahul Gandhi summed up the murder of journalist Vikram Joshi in Uttar Pradesh.

“Journalist Vikram Joshi was murdered for protesting the harassment of his niece. My condolences to the bereaved family. They promised Ram-raj and delivered gunda-raj,” the former Congress chief tweeted.

Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who is in charge of the Congress’s Uttar Pradesh unit, also alleged “jungle-raj”.

“Journalist Vikram Joshi was shot dead in front of his daughters. Jungle-raj in Uttar Pradesh has acquired such dreadful dimensions that common citizens live in fear after complaining against criminals. The BJP government has also failed to control crime like the previous governments,” she tweeted.

The BJP has in the past run relentless campaigns against the erstwhile Mulayam Singh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh and the then Lalu Prasad regime in Bihar by branding them as “jungle-raj” and “gunda-raj” for the questionable law-and-order situation. The BJP had simultaneously promised “Ram-raj”, which symbolises good governance.

The Congress on Wednesday accused the Adityanath government of patronising criminals and crushing voices that ask questions.

Claiming that “jungle-raj” and “gunda-raj” were manifested in Uttar Pradesh in their ugliest forms, Congress communications chief Randeep Surjewala said: “A state from where the Prime Minister has been elected, a state where Ram-raj had been promised, has no trace of law as criminals run amok without any resistance.

“Law and order has collapsed completely. This journalist who complained against harassment of his niece had been attacked earlier too.”

The Congress held another media conference within hours to stress the gravity of the situation with spokesperson Supriya Shrinate asking: “Whoever raises his voice is targeted and there are several instances of criminals being given protection.”

Arguing that journalists were being selectively targeted, both Surjewala and Shrinate presented a detailed list of journalists being purportedly persecuted for raising uncomfortable questions.

“Has it become a sin to be a journalist in Uttar Pradesh? On October 29, 2019, journalist Ramesh Mishra was killed in Lakhimpur. An FIR has been registered against a journalist who revealed how children have to eat roti with salt in school under the mid-day meal scheme. A Delhi-based journalist is booked for exposing the condition of a village adopted by the Prime Minister in his constituency Varanasi.

“An FIR is registered against a website editor for pointing out that the chief minister had violated lockdown norms. Another journalist is arrested merely because he reported on faulty PPE kits. One journalist is arrested for a social media post and finally got some respite only from the Supreme Court. Five journalists in Bijnor who talked about caste discrimination had to face very grave charges; the Gangster Act was invoked against some journalists in Noida,” Surjewala said. Later, Shrinate echoed the charges.

Shrinate cited latest National Crime Records Bureau data from 2018 that show that Uttar Pradesh leads in every act of crime.