The Uttar Pradesh police on Saturday commenced a probe after an allegedly communal quote attributed to Kairana MP Tabassum Hasan was circulated widely on social media and WhatsApp groups.
Days after she defeated Mriganka Singh of the BJP n a Lok Sabha bypoll, Ms. Hasan was allegedly quoted as saying, “This is Allah’s victory and Ram’s defeat.”
Ms. Hasan, who contested on Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) ticket, dismissed the quote as “propaganda”, and said she could have never made such communal comments.
Files complaint
Through her son and MLA, Nahid Hasan, she approached the police demanding a probe into the “fake posts.” She said in her complaint that the posts were “being spread through WhatsApp and other sources to hurt brotherhood and social harmony. This is being done as part of a well-thought-out strategy.”
“Now that they are defeated, they are trying to chart a way for 2019 through different means,” she told a news channel in Kairana.
Shamli Superintendent of Police Dev Ranjan said he had received an application in the matter. “We have given it to our surveillance branch and they are doing an inquiry into this matter,” he told The Hindu .
‘Coordinated attack’
RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary tweeted in support of Ms. Hasan and alleged that the “fake news” was “a coordinated attack by BJP.”
“The BJP should learn from the theme of our campaign set by the slogan ‘Kairana mein Jinnah nahi , ganna chalega ’ (‘In Kairana, it is not Jinnah but sugarcane that will work’). Ignore real issues at your own peril! Don’t try the dirty tricks that create fissures between communities,” Mr. Chaudhary said.
In the bypolls, Ms. Hasan won by a margin of over 44,600 votes. She is the sole Muslim Lok Sabha member out of the 80 from U.P.
