Lucknow: Rejecting the findings of local administration, BJP has maintained its stand of ‘Hindu exodus’ from Kairana town of Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli district as its firebrand MLA Sangeet Som on Friday issued 15-day ultimatum to Akhilesh Yadav government to bring back Hindu families who have allegedly migrated.
BJP also released the report of its fact-finding team to Kairana and demanded a CBI inquiry into the alleged Hindu migration in Kairana and charged the ruling Samajwadi Party with giving protection to criminals from a "particular community" inciting terror there.
BJP UP chief Keshav Prasad Maurya, who led a delegation to Governor Ram Naik today, later told reporters that he has apprised the Governor of the "real situation" in Kairana in Shamli district of western UP.
"The party has submitted a memorandum to the Governor apprising him of the real situation there and demanding a CBI inquiry," Maurya said.
"The report of our (BJPs) probe team which visited Kairana was also submitted to the Governor," he added.
The convenor of the probe team, Suresh Khanna, and Kairana MP Hukum Singh, who had first raised the issue of migration, were also present. They described the situation in Kairana as "much more serious than being projected", adding that a CBI probe is the need of the hour.
The Governor has assured the BJP delegation of taking up the matter with Chief MinisterAkhilesh Yadav. He has also assured to send a copy of the memorandum to the President, they said.
The BJP leaders alleged that criminals like Mukim Lala and Furkan enjoyed the patronage of the SP and thus, were running their extortion network from jail.
These criminals have been accused of unleashing a reign of terror in Kairana that led to the Hindu migration, they added.
The BJP leaders also alleged that facing pressure from the ruling party, officials asked the oppressed to adjust and discriminated on the basis of religion.
Claiming that the list of migrants submitted by him was a correct account, Hukum Singh maintained that the migration was linked to crime and patronage to criminals from a "particular community".
"There are large number of Muslims in Kairana and hence, some political parties are out to give it a communal colour," Singh, who has been elected to the Assembly seven times from Kairana, said.
Citing incidents related to murder of traders for rangdari and families migrating from there due to terror, the BJP leaders demanded adequate compensation, rehabilitation and full security for the migrants.
The district administration officials said that they have finished the verification of the list of families given by BJP MP Hukum Singh which allegedly fled Kairana due to communal tensions. As per the report, 67 of the 346 families left Kairana 10 years ago and 179 families left the place 4-5 years ago. 73 people who left the town over last 3 years have migrated due to personal reasons. 16 of those mentioned in the list are already dead and families of 3 of them still live in Kairana. Seven names have appeared twice in the list given by Hukum Singh.
Ruling Samajwadi Party, Congress and BSP all have attacked BJP for raking up the issue ahead of the assembly elections next year.
Alleging that BJP leaders are involved in land grabbing, SP spokesman and senior cabinet minister Shivpal Yadav said, "The entire state has become aware of them (BJP leaders). They are involved in all illegal works including grabbing land and fake currency trade. We are also initiating probe against them and strict action will be taken," he said.
"Their only work is to orchestrate riots and let people fight with each other but the state government will not let this happen. They are the same people who masterminded the Muzzafarnagar riots," Shivpal said at a hurriedly convened press conference.
Congress also took a dig at BJP, saying that the party did not send a team to Bundelkhand where farmers are committing suicide but to Kairana to make the "exodus" a big issue in Uttar Pradesh where Assembly polls are due next year.
"BJP has not sent a team to Bundelkhand where farmers are committing suicide or to areas in the state where cane growers are in distress due to pending arrears," Congress spokesman R P N Singh said.
BSP chief Mayawati said that both BJP and SP were trying to whip up communal hatred in UP ahead of the polls. Alleging that BJP was making “all-out efforts” to give a “communal colour” to the migration issue to gain “political mileage”, the BSP chief regretted that the SP government has forgotten its “sarkari dharma” (principles of a government) and was surprisingly not taking any action against anti-social elements and those fomenting communalism.
(With inputs from PTI)
