Political bickering began in Saharanpur as the situation in the riot-hit area of Western Uttar Pradesh proceeded to normalcy, on Monday.
Congress leader Imran Masood and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Saharanpur MP Raghav Lakhanpal Sharma indulged in a war of words through their comments on each other’s political motives that allegedly led to the communal riots near the Qutub Sher Police Station area in the city.
On Sunday, Mr Sharma had blamed Mr Masood for instigating the communal riots.
“Mr Imran Masood of the Congress party and Moharram Ali Pappu were the people who collected the crowd and instigated it,” Mr Sharma had said, on Sunday.
On Monday, Mr Sharma said, “Imran Masood should be in jail right now. He should be booked under the National Security Act (NSA) for having collected thousands of people, for having enticed them into indulging in loot and murder of innocent people.”
Replying to Mr Sharma’s allegations, Mr Masood said on Monday, “I stepped up to stop the violence while he [Mr Sharma] moved around the city instigating the crowd to escalate the violence.”
The violence which broke on Saturday was a result of a land dispute between two religious communities. The Sri Guru Singh Sabha was constructing an extension to the Gurudwara on a land where, according to the residents, a mosque stood.
Mr Moharram Ali Pappu had filed a petition in the court stating that the land had a mosque built over it and must not be used by the Gurudwara. Mr Moharram Ali Pappu has been named as one of the people behind instigating the riots in which three persons were killed. An FIR has been lodged against him.
Sources in the BJP said that Mr Moharram Ali Pappu was Mr Masood’s close aide.
However, Mr Masood, on Monday, denied any connection with Mr Moharram Ali Pappu.
The Samajwadi Party has named Sanjay Garg as its candidate for the October by-election. Shifting the blame to the Samajwadi Party, Mr Masood said that Mr Moharram Ali Pappu was a close aide of Mr Garg. He suggested that the riots were instigated to bring about polarisation which could benefit the Samajwadi Party.
“There should be legal action against the people who instigated the violence and participated in escalating it,” Mr Masood said suggesting that legal action must be taken against Mr Moharram Ali Pappu if he instigated the violence.
Both the leaders – Mr Masood and Mr Sharma – mentioned the by-election to be held in October as the reason behind the riots. Both the leaders blamed each other for instigating the violence, and for escalating it. The reason, both said, was to gain from the polarisation that the riots would cause.
“He [Mr Sharma] wants his brother to win the upcoming by-election and become an MLA from here. The polarisation would help him gain support as Muslims only form 40 percent of the area’s population and all other votes [60 percent] would go to his brother,” Mr Masood said.
Mr Masood was in news for his hate speech against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Saharanpur while he was campaigning for the Lok Sabha polls.
Mr Sharma said that Mr Masood produced a hate statement against Mr Modi during the recent Lok Sabha polls to gain from it. “If he is doing this today, it is to gain from it in the upcoming Assembly by-election in Saharanpur.”
Mr Masood said Mr Sharma was siding with the Gurudwara. He alleged that it was under his support that the Gurudwara was constructing an extension to its main building over disputed property.
“He [Mr Sharma] told the Gurudwara chiefs that they should continue the construction and he would handle any situation,” Mr Masood said.