The ruling Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh has maintained a conspicuous silence on the Delhi trial court verdict in the Hashimpura massacre case.
The court last week acquitted all the 16 Provincial Armed Constabulary personnel accused of abducting and killing 42 Muslims in the Hashimpura area in Meerut on May 22, 1987.
In the aftermath of the judgment, several Muslim and civil society groups urged the Akhilesh Yadav government to appeal against the acquittal. On Thursday, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy too asked the government to challenge the order.
But six days after the verdict, there has been no reaction from the party headed by a leader dubbed ‘Maulana’ Mulayam.’ Sources within the party have told The Hindu that it was precisely this ‘pro-Muslim’ image that it wanted to discard. They said the SP was in dilemma on the stand it should take. It was closely watching the reaction of the minority community and studying the political repercussions that its stand could trigger. Official spokesperson Rajendra Chaudhary said the party would react only after “properly” studying the judgment.
Interestingly, even Azam Khan, the prominent Muslim face of the SP government known for his controversial statements, has said nothing. Another prominent Muslim face in the ruling party and an MLA from Meerut, Shahid Mazoor, has neither visited Hashimpura nor contacted the victims.
“Nobody from either the Uttar Pradesh government or the Samajwadi Party has tried to reach out to us,” a survivor of the massacre Zulfiqar Nasir told TheHindu . The victims are planning to file an appeal in the Delhi High Court.
