Dr Shakti Kumar Pandey
EXTREMELY dirty politics is being played on the martyrdom of Ziya ul Haq, the CO of Kunda who met a tragic end, losing his life, in an effort to save several lives, and in an effort to stop violence and arson, firings and cross-firings in the aftermath of murder of Nanhe Yadav, the village pradhan of Balipur under Hathigawan police station and Kunda constituency. From all pockets there is unanimous condemnation of the deed and the doer, whosoever he may be. The mysterious death of Ziya ul Haq has shocked everyone. He was loved and respected by all not because he was a Muslim, but because he was a true Indian and an upright police officer.
Is it not quite baffling that the likes of Maulana Bukhari and Azam Khan have been trying to give it all a communal colour. They condemned the cabinet minister and Kunda MLA Raja Bhaiyya ferociously, who was himself shocked with the tragic incident that had taken place in his constituency. Bukhari and Azam asked CM to get his resignation, which he tendered. They ensured that FIR is lodged against him and some of his close associates. They may also be arrested soon. Bukhari and Azam advised the CM to go to Deoria immediately, to the village of the deceased CO, and to give ex-gratia of Rs 50 lac to his family and job to two family members etc. Interestingly, Raja Bhaiyya had no apparent connection with the incident or the place of occurrence. Bukhari and Azam never gave a thought to the bereaved family of the village panchayat chief Nanhe Yadav, who had lost life. And his brother Suresh too was killed in the subsequent firing.
We are reminded of the Aasthan village under Nawabganj police station of Pratapgarh where four Muslim youths raped and murdered a dalit minor girl. The infuriated mob of locals set the houses of the perpetrators ablaze. None of the Muslims expressed sympathy for the dalit minor girl, but all of them expressed concern for the rapists and their families. Even at that time they tried to convince the chief minister that the houses were set ablaze at the instance of Raja Bhaiyya, even though Raja Bhaiyya was nowhere in the picture.
Similarly, this time round lot of hue and cry was made and the wife of CO was convinced that the CO could not be murdered without the consent of Raja Bhaiyya. The fact is that both the warring groups belonged to Raja Bhaiyya, and if he had intervened, maybe that the dispute was resolved. At the time of the incident Raja Bhaiyya was in Lucknow, recuperating from fever. Even his driver named in the FIR was also with him.
Many Hindu organisations raised voice when it was realized that Raja Bhaiya is being targeted by the communal elements. They blamed that the Hindu families are being ignored by the government. The chief minister was forced to go to the village of Nanhe Yadav as well. The chief minister Akhilesh Yadav distributed cheques of Rs. 20,00,000 (twenty lac each) to the widows of killed village panchayat chief Nanhe Yadav and his brother Suresh Yadav. The chief minister also promised that he would ensure that no injustice is done to them in the process of police investigations. Azam Khan also accompanied the chief minister, but he faced resistance while entering the village. The villagers of Balipur raised slogans of ‘Azam khan Murdabad, Raja Bhaiya Zindabad’ at the entry of chief minister’s cavalcade into the village.
It may be mentioned that in a gruesome and shocking development, Nanhe Yadav, the Pradhan of Balipur village under Hathigawan policed station and Kunda constituency, was killed by some people of the same village in a land dispute. In retaliatory firing and cross-firing CO Kunda Ziya ul Haq and Suresh Yadav, the brother of the deceased pradhan were also killed. On the initiative of Maulana Bukhari and Azam Khan, Akhilesh Yadav had gone to the village of CO Ziya ul haq in Deoria and gave fifty lac to his widow, while also promising job to two persons of the family. However, the CM ignored the Yadav family of which the two brothers had lost their life. The remaining brothers are being implicated in the case of murder and arson.
The kin of Nanhe have been raising their voice through the media, demanding that the chief minister should visit their place as well, because they too had become victim of the violence. CM’s attention was drawn when the kin of two deceased brothers sat on dharna in the front verandah of their house, supported by large number of people from the neighborhood, which forced the CM to visit their place on Wednesday.
