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Yogi ministers embark on ‘douse-fire’ mission
As violence continued unabated in Uttar Pradesh over the new citizenship law, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state embarked on a multi-pronged
As violence continued unabated in Uttar Pradesh over the new citizenship law, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the state embarked on a multi-pronged strategy to contain violence that has already claimed over a dozen lives so far.
While the government proceeded to serve first-of-its-kind recovery notices on those identified or caught on camera causing violence, it also rushed its ministers Mahendra Singh and Mohsin Raza to approach clerics and other influential Muslims, including former players, to help contain the violence and restore normalcy.
Greeting those they visited with a rose and specially published book to debunk ‘myths’ on citizenship law, the ministers explained that the law had nothing to do with Indian Muslims and was not a prelude to National Register of Citizens (NRC), which seeks to identify and oust ‘intruders’.
“We visited important people of the community, both to convince them of our government’s resolve to protect democracy and every citizen as well as to expose those who, for their narrow political gains, are vitiating the atmosphere of the country,” the ministers said.
Among those the ministers, acting as emissaries of chief minister Yogi Adityanath, met included prominent Sunni cleric Khalid Rasheed Firangi Mahal, the imam of Lucknow Eidgah. While the cleric was jointly approached by the two ministers, Raza approached Khan Bahadur Yusuf Khan, son of Gaus Mohammad Khan, who was the first Asian player to reach Wimbledon quarter finals and was India’s top ranked lawn tennis players for 12 years, Danish Murtaza, who represented India in hockey Olympics, Imran-ul-Haq, an international hockey player and others.
Even as the ministers were engaged in outreach, Basti DM Ashutosh Niranjan tactfully handled the situation in the district which has nearly 3 lakh-plus Muslims comprising nearly 15 per cent of the total population.
While several districts continued to witness simmering tension, in Basti Muslims raised slogans of ‘Bharat Mata ki jai (hail Mother India)’, and ‘Jai Hind (hail India)’ as Niranjan sought to delink the popular notion that the citizenship law was preparing the ground for NRC roll-out.
“Me and other officials decided to engage the people in a conversation. There were lots of misgivings on the citizenship law and they thought that it was to create the ground for NRC. So we spoke to them and when we did, apprehensions might have remained still but the anger vanished. That’s why many Muslims raised slogans of Jai Hind and Bharat Mata Ki Jai,” the DM said.
Union home minister Amit Shah has said NRC would be implemented across the country but Basti’s DM explained to Muslims there was nothing in writing about NRC’s roll-out plan.
“There is nothing on NRC in writing so far. And the citizenship law has nothing to do with it. Even assuming NRC does happen, and if there are misgivings, then in a democratic country like ours there would be several options before you to present your concerns. Article 14 to Article 35 are parts of basic structure of the Constitution and there are checks and balances in it to prevent any tinkering of the basic structure of the Constitution,” Niranjan said.
