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A war of words broke out on Monday over alleged migration of Hindus from Kairana in Uttar Pradesh with the Bharatiya Janata Party saying it is not good for democracy and that a party team will be sent to probe the ‘sensitive’ issue, prompting Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to accuse the saffron leaders of resorting to lies.
As political temperatures rose over the alleged exodus of Hindus from Kairana village in Shamli district in western Uttar Pradesh ahead of elections due in the state next year, the BJP promised ‘proper action’ after the completion of the probe. Shamli district had witnessed communal riots in 2013.
A day after BJP chief Amit Shah expressed serious concern over the ‘migration’, senior BJP leader and Union minister Nitin Gadkari said his party has taken up the issue with all seriousness.
“(The) party president has set up a committee, which will go there and study the situation. Such a migration is not good for democracy. The party is sensitive about it and proper steps will be taken after the report comes,” Gadkari told reporters on the second day of BJP National Executive meeting in Allahabad.
The seven-member committee comprises four MPs and three leaders from UP.
Gadkari, a former BJP president, parried a question about the Samajwadi Party government’s assertion that many Hindus had migrated from Kairana long back and some of them are now already dead, saying the BJP President has already reacted to this matter.
“The party is sensitive on this issue and will take proper action,” was his repeated refrain.
Akhilesh Yadav accused BJP leaders of being ‘dishonest’ and ‘lying’ on the issue and said he would like to see ‘better work’ from the party.
“The BJP is alleging that the Samajawadi Party government forced the people flee from Kairana... (the) BJP can be dishonest to this extent,” Yadav told reporters in Mathura after meeting the families of two police officers killed in the violence that erupted during an anti-encroachment drive on June 2.
Yadav claimed that most of the people left the village about 10 to 15 years back while others left in search of jobs about seven or eight years back.
“A house to house search shows the lie of BJP,” he said, adding that in fact BJP does not have any issue like development and would only tout digital India whereas the state has made tremendous progress under the SP-led government like distribution of laptops, construction of roads and bridges and providing power for long hours.
Taking a dig at the BJP, which is seeking to wrest power from the SP in the state, Yadav said he would like to see ‘better’ work from the BJP.
“I want them to show some work. They should come and say that they distributed laptops to the people and not only talk about digital India,” he added.
Shah, in his address to the National Executive on Sunday, had said, “The migration happening in Kairana due to violence is a matter of serious concern. There is an atmosphere of violence. The lack of development and the lack of governance in the largest state of India, that is Uttar Pradesh, is becoming a matter of serious concern.”
Meanwhile, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad held that ‘jihadi elements’ responsible for the alleged exodus of Hindus from Kairana and asked the SP government to ‘rein them in’ and tighten law and order in the state.
"Jihadis are being encouraged to carry out their activities... (the) VHP calls upon the state government to rein in (the) jihadi elements who are responsible for this exodus and tighten the law and order in the state,” VHP joint general secretary Surendra Jain said.
He hit out at SP leader and state minister Azam Khan over his statements on the Kairana issue and said it only proved the ‘anti-Hindu mindset’ promoted by him.
Jain said the migration of Hindus from Kairana is ‘unfortunate’ and the township, which was a Hindu majority 40 years ago, now has only eight per cent Hindus.
"It is not only Kairana in Uttar Pradesh that is a mute testimony to the exodus of Hindus, there are many more places other than Kairana which are also witnessing this trend of mass out-migration of Hindus. Apart from Kandhla, Gangoh and Thanabhavan, there are many other places in Western UP where Hindus are resorting to mass out-migration,” he said.
The VHP leader alleged this dismal state of affairs has not come about in one day and ‘unfortunately the parties that have been governing UP have concentrated more on vote bank politics rather than the interests of the nation and the state. Instead of taking action against the criminals, they provided political patronage to them’.