E-Paper
UP CM Yogi promises security to Hindus in Kairana
In the run-up to the 2017 assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and some Hindu families had alleged that they were forced to leave the town after threats from Muslim gangsters.
Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday visited Kairana town in Shamli district and promised security to some Hindus who claimed to have been forced out of their homes between 2014 and 2016.
In the run-up to the 2017 assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and some Hindu families had alleged that they were forced to leave the town after threats from Muslim gangsters. But the claim was contested by other families, local administration and Opposition parties.
Adityanath, along with cabinet ministers Suresh Rana, Sidharth Nath Singh and western UP BJP president Mohit Beniwal, met families of traders allegedly killed by gangsters, Muqeem Kala and Furqan (who goes by one name) gang, and those who allegedly left town between 2014 and 2016. At the time, the state was ruled by the Samajwadi Party.
“After 2017, due to our government’s policy of zero tolerance towards crime and criminals, many families have returned,” the CM said. “The government will give some compensation to the victim families so that they can again carry out business and economic activities,” he added.
The meetings were held at the house of local resident Vijay Mittal, whose grandfather Moolchand left his native place Kairana in 2016.
“I have sought a report from the district administration about the families which were harmed and their members killed here in the previous Samajwadi Party regime,” Adityanath said, adding that action has been initiated against the guilty. “Towns like Kairana and Kandhla faced repercussions of the criminalisation of politics in the early 1990s and the politicisation of professional criminals. Hindu businessmen and other Hindus were forced to migrate from here on a large scale,” he alleged.
“The work of strengthening the outpost has already been done and today I came here for laying the foundation of a PAC battalion camp,” he added.
The families of three traders -- Vinod, Raju and Shankar (all of whom go by one name), who were killed in 2014-- were also invited to interact with the CM.
SP leader Sudhir Panwar said, “ Even after running a majority government in UP, BJP has nothing to say about their achievements except linking criminality with religion and spreading hate among people for each other...”
In June 2016, then BJP MP Hukum Singh claimed that close to 350 Hindus left Kairana over alleged threats and extortion. Later, Kairana police saidthat a spot verification of 150 addresses revealed several reasons for the migration, including better business and job prospects.
Inputs from PTI
