After a probe by the Shamli district administration and media reports rubbished the BJP’s claim of a “Hindu exodus” from Kairana in western Uttar Pradesh, a delegation of five Hindu seers has come to a similar conclusion. The delegation nominated by the State government to probe the Kairana issue said on Monday that the BJP was giving a communal colour to incidents of goondaism in the town.
Swami Chakrapani, president of the right-wing Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha, led the team. “We visited Kairana. Our report is being finalised. There is no communal atmosphere there,” he told The Hindu.
“Yes, goondaism is rampant. Obviously, people are bothered. But the manner in which the BJP is giving it a communal colour is wrong. Muslims are as much troubled by the goons as Hindus. Ruffians and goons have no religion,” Chakrapani said.
The seer was in the news last year after he purchased a car purportedly belonging to underworld don Dawood Ibrahim in Mumbai and set it on fire in public view in Ghaziabad.
The team of seers was invited to probe the Kairana issue by State Minister Shivpal Singh Yadav, who suggested that “apolitical” persons would produce a fair report of “ground reality.” He recommended the names of Chakrapani, Acharya Pramod Krishnan, Swami Kalyan, Swami Narain Giri and Swami Chinmayanand.
Chakrapani said his team also found that there was mounting anger among the residents of Kairana towards BJP MP Hukum Singh, who triggered the controversy, and RSS-VHP. “The residents say these people come and rake up big issues but do not help them when they need it. The manner in which they prepared a list of people, to set the whole State on fire, was dangerous.”
The seers will submit their report to Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Mr. Yadav on Monday lashed out at the BJP for communalising cases of economic migration and said the party’s “false list” had been “exposed.”
Mr. Yadav said people were migrating in search of better livelihood but the BJP gave it a communal colour to tarnish his government as part of a conspiracy. He challenged political parties to a debate on the migration issue.
The BJP, which released a probe report of its own last week and demanded a CBI probe, accepted the challenge. “We urge the Chief Minister to debate not just the list but the reasons behind the migration. Can he deny that people are migrating because of law and order problems, goondaism and extortion,” BJP spokesperson Vijay Bahadur Pathak said.
The BJP has maintained that residents in Kairana are being forced to migrate due to the “fear and terror” of goons belonging to a particular community or varg vishesh, an oblique reference to Muslims, who allegedly enjoy patronage of the local police and administration. “If those sent by the State are admitting that there is goondaism, what stops the government from acting against those elements? If not the opposition, then listen to your own probe team,” Mr. Pathak said.
BSP chief Mayawati has accused the SP and the BJP of having a “tacit understanding” in communalising the atmosphere for political mileage.
