Pune: The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen’s (AIMIM) Imtiaz Jaleel, MLA, has written an open letter to Shiv Sena MP Chandrakant Khaire, blaming the latter’s party for stirring communal discord in Aurangabad.
Journalist-turned-politician Mr. Jaleel urged the Sena leader to desist from indulging in blame game and instead focus on solving pressing problems affecting the citizens, like garbage disposal and water supply.
“The events of May 11-12 were the handiwork of anti-social elements from both communities. There are lakhs of citizens in this city who strive for peaceful co-existence and wish to carry on with their businesses in peace,” he has said in the letter.
At the same time, the MLA has criticised the MP for taking out a protest rally by Shiv Sainiks on May 18 despite being denied permission by the police.
“Dear Mr. Khaire, your statements before the media and the police in the aftermath of the riots where you claim to be ‘a protector of the Hindu religion’ has deeply hurt sentiments of the city’s more sensitive residents. As a senior leader and a consecutive-term MP of the city, is it not your responsibility towards protecting citizens of all creeds and religious affiliation?” reads the letter.
Mr. Jaleel said that Mr. Khaire’s “identification with a particular religion and community only” and his “aggressive partisanship” had only served to alienate minorities and heighten communal tensions in the fortnight following the riots.
“I am doing my best to provide succour to Hindu community members in my area and am helping a Hindu gentleman set-up his ice-cream shop destroyed in the rioting. Would you do the same to provide relief to your Muslim brethren by helping set-up their ravaged silk establishments in the Gulmandi area? Let us join hands to help the riot afflicted,” reads Mr. Jaleel’s letter.
The MIM legislator has further exhorted Mr. Khaire to take out an “all-party peace rally” under the latter’s leadership in a bid to restore the fractured peace of the historic city.
The Aurangabad police on May 18 had denied permission to the Sena for staging a protest rally in a city limping back to normalcy in the aftermath of the riots left two persons dead besides resulting in severe damage to property and aggravating communal tensions.
The authorities were worried that the Sena’s ‘show of strength’, in protest against the alleged indifference of the police authorities during the clashes, would further exacerbate tensions in a fraught city.
Despite the prohibition, Shiv Sainiks led by Mr. Khaire staged the rally on May 19. The procession of irate Sainiks passed through the riot-hit areas of Gulmandi, City Chowk and Shahaganj of Old Aurangabad.
Mr. Khaire is a fourth-time MP, winning from Aurangabad since 1999. He was also a two-time legislator, winning from the Aurangabad West constituency in 1990 and 1995, besides serving as a cabinet Minister in the erstwhile Sena-BJP government which ruled the State during 1995-99.
Mr. Jaleel made news during the results to the 2014 Assembly election, when, as a political novitiate, he beat the Shiv Sena’s Pradeep Jaiswal to snare the Aurangabad Central constituency.
On Monday, the police had arrested Mr. Jaiswal for ransacking the Kranti Chowk police station. The Sena leader had created a ruckus while demanding the release of two Sena activists arrested in connection with the rioting.
Mr. Jaiswal, who was remanded to a 15-day judicial custody at Aurangabad central prison, was later moved to a hospital after he allegedly complained of chest pain.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted to probe the riots has already arrested local Shiv Sena leader Laxminarayan Bakhriya alias Lachhu Pahelwan, said to be the chief instigator of the clashes.
The SIT has also arrested another Sena leader, corporator Rajendra Janjal for personally indulging in vandalism, torching vehicles and smashing shops during the night of the rioting, along with AIMIM corporator Feroz Khan, who is charged with inciting a mob to violence during the clashes.
The riots, which allegedly began over illegal water connections, rapidly took on a communal colour and engulfed the old part of Aurangabad city claiming two lives - of a 17-year-old youth and a man in his 60s – besides leaving more than 50 persons injured and resulting in massive damage to property.
