The Adityanath-led Uttar Pradesh government sought details on the number of Brahmins who have applied and received weapon licences in the state, but backtracked later, The Indian Express reported on Monday.

A letter, signed by Prakash Chandra Agarwal, under secretary of the home department, was sent to district magistrates on August 18. However, Agarwal declined to comment and a senior official told the newspaper that the details “are no longer being pursued”.

On August 16, Devmani Dwivedi, a BJP member of the legislative assembly from Sultanpur, sent a note to Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha Principal Secretary Pradeep Dubey, asking questions as per Assembly rules and procedures. He wanted to know from the state government: how many Brahmins have been killed in the present regime? How many killers have been arrested? What are the security plans for Brahmins? Will the government provide them weapon licences on priority?

After this, the government sent a letter to the district magistrates and sought details of the same. “How many Brahmins applied for arms licences and how many were issued,” the letter read. “Please provide this information point-wise with supplementary material by August 21, 2020 on e-mail.”

However, Dubey refuted this and said they did not seek any such information, adding that the BJP legislator’s question was not accepted. “I have no information about it and I am out of touch,” Dubey told The Indian Express.

Ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections, several Opposition leaders have attacked the Adityanath government for its perceived neglect of the Brahmin community. This gained momentum after the police action against Vikas Dubey, a gangster in Kanpur, and his associates, all of who were Brahmins. Dubey was the main accused in the murder of eight Uttar Pradesh policemen in a shootout in Kanpur’s Bikru village on July 3. The gangster was arrested in Madhya Pradesh’s Ujjain city, and was killed in police custody on July 10 while allegedly attempting to escape.

Brahmins make up around 10% of the state’s electorate, an influential vote bank.

Also read: As Brahmins in UP ask for weapons, the Opposition sharpens its attack on the Adityanath government