In communalising UP Budget and committing atrocities on Hindus in Kosi Kalan
Dr SK Pandey from Lucknow
Unlike the popular democratic governments which are “of the people, by the people and for the people”, what we have in UP is the unpopular and undemocratic government “of the Muslims, by the Muslims and for the Muslims”. The pro-Muslim budget presented in UP Assembly and atrocities on Hindus in Kosi Kalan on the same day are cases in point.
The manner in which Akhilesh Yadav has declared his solidarity with the Muslims, even before the polls, and started implementing his plans after becoming the CM, offering them the thousands of crores’ budget sops on a platter, the community seems to have gone berserk, as seen in the case of Kosi Kalan. Soon after finishing their Friday Namaz on the 1st June they not only mercilessly assaulted a Hindu youth in front of the mosque over a most trivial issue but, on being objected, also took to streets showing all their might. Loot and arson followed, destroying, rampaging and setting ablaze the shops and houses of their Hindu brethren in that area.
The Hindus reaction was seen when the Muslims started killing people and one innocent Sonu Saini was put to death in the process, more than a dozen were injured in the Muslims’ attack, and the property of Hindu shopkeepers worth crores of rupees was gutted in the arson. When they realised that the police too in the Samajwadi government have become insensitive and partisan in order to please their bosses, the Hindu community came forward, and with all their strength gave security to all regardless of their caste or religion in order to save them from the rioters. Had they not done so, large number of dead bodies of Hindus (and Muslims too) would have been strewn on the streets of Kosi Kalan.
In fact, Nikasa locality of Kosi Kalan is dominated by Muslim criminals who keep illegal arms and ammunitions and no police officer has ever dared to conduct raids in that area. Moreover, there is 25 per cent Muslim population in the area, and they have proved that once they grow in number they make hell the life of Hindus in their area.
Akhilesh is following the footsteps of his father. We are reminded of Mulayam Singh Yadav’s regime when communal riots had erupted in Mau and Mukhtar Ansari as well as other criminals had their way, killing Hindus, raping Hindu women, looting their property and setting ablaze their houses, shops etc. And all this was well orchestrated in the protection of ‘Mulla’ Mulayam, the then UP Chief Minister.
Coincidently, the same day (on Friday) when the riot broke, UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Singh Yadav was showering sops on Muslims in UP Assembly, setting aside over Rs. 2,000 crore for the welfare of minorities. The budget of 2012-13 is of Rs 2 lakh crore, which is 18 per cent higher than 2011-12 budget. In addition to making special allocations to fulfill the poll promises made by the Samajwadi Party before elections, the budgetary allocation for minority welfare, particularly Muslims, has been increased by 81 per cent in comparison to preceding year.
Apart from promoting education and creation employment opportunities for Muslims, it includes small provisions like Rs. 100 crore for assisting marriages of Muslim girls and Rs. 200 crore for maintenance of graveyards. Muslim constitute 20 per cent of UP’s population. Of 403 assembly constituency in UP, 140 have Muslim population over 30 per cent. Similarly, out of 80 Lok Sabha seats, 28 have Muslim population above 30 per cent. In assembly elections, Samajwadi Party won from 120 Muslim dominated seats. Of these 120 seats, 43 were won by Muslim candidates themselves. The party wants to capture most of the Muslim dominated Lok Sabha seats in 2014 general elections.
Now in Kosi Kalan, those who tried to protect the Hindu families from the onslaught of Muslim rioters have been booked under various sections of the IPC. The fact is that all the peace-loving citizens came out to give a protection cover to innocent people regardless of their caste and religion. Even the Samajwadi Party district unit led by its president Govind Singh was struggling to protect Hindus, followed by the Bahujan Samaj Party leader Chaudhry Laxmi Narain Singh, who along with his MLC brother are among 171 names in the nine named FIRs.
Agriculture Minister in the previous BSP regime, Choudhary Laxmi Narayan and his brother Lekhraj Choudhary, an MLC, have been charged with armed assault, instigating violence, loot, arson, attempt to murder and conspiracy. Surprisingly, Lekhraj Chowdhary has been implicated even though he was attending Assembly at the time of riots. The Bahujan Samaj Party and the BJP demanded action against those who were actually responsible for the reprehensible deeds. It is feared that the Hindu social workers and community leaders will be booked by the police and false charges will be framed against them to please the Muslim community.
When the district administration tried to do justice and take appropriate action against the real culprits, Syed Ahmed Bukhari, the Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid accused the government and said he will give a second thought on supporting the party in the forthcoming municipal elections and 2014 general polls. Bukhari said he wanted to meet members of the affected Muslim community there, but was not allowed to enter the area. “Unless officials are told in clear terms that Muslims are supporters of SP and that they have voted for SP and therefore their rights and lives should be protected, such incidents will recur,” Bukhari added.
Consequently, the transfer of DM Sanjay Kumar, SSP Dharmveer, SDM, CO, and SO has been ordered by the state government. Bukhari said that officials’ transfers were ordered only after he spoke to SP president Mulayam Singh Yadav. “It was too late. They should have been suspended, only then would the message have gone down well”, he said.
We may recall that Bukhari had his way when his son-in-law Umar Ali Khan was made an MLC, and another relative Waseem Ahmed Khan was appointed chairman of the UP Pollution Control Board despite the objections of Minorities Welfare Minister Azam Khan.
In all four persons were killed and more than 36 others injured in the communal clashes that broke out. Goods worth Rs50 crore have been looted or burnt form furniture, electronic and textile shops. People are so scared that they are not coming out even after relaxation in the curfew. District authorities deployed additional security forces to cut off Kosi Kalan from the rural belt and areas close to the Haryana border. The security forces had been deployed along the national highway to ensure that the trouble did not spill over to hinder traffic to Agra from Delhi.
The District Magistrate and the Senior Superintendent of Police appealed to people not to be swayed by rumours and help the administration restore normalcy at the earliest. The officials told the media that the situation was under control. Additional Director General of Police Jagmohan Yadav also reached Kosi Kalan and reviewed the situation. The area had been divided into three zones and 12 sectors for effective patrolling by security agencies. The Uttar Pradesh government has asked all districts to be on alert to prevent any spread of the communal violence.
Initially, with the people blocking the narrow lanes police found it difficult to control the rioting mob. People from neighbouring villages also rushed to Kosi Kalan to take sides, which further worsened the problem. With four battalions of rapid action force and eight battalions of PAC, the entire area has turned into a fortress. Calm has returned to the town but the need of the hour is to restore faith in the system, so that even when the forces leave peace and harmony continue to remain Kosi Kalan town.
