Led by Amit Shah, UP BJP has launced a vicious communal propaganda against Muslims in UP particularly in the districts of Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Meerut, Bijnor, Bhaghpat, Saharanpur of West UP. Like in Gujarat in 2002, they are conducting a malicious disinformation campaign with regard to safety of Hindu women to inflame anti muslim passions and to target them. More than 42 people have been accepted by the govt as killed with widespread violence in rural areas. Several thousands have been displaced as they ran to safer places, mostly to relatives in less affected areas. Hundreds of dwellings and shops have been destroyed and looted. It is apparent that majority of the affected people are muslims as it is mainly they who are being discovered displaced.
CPI(ML) ND has condemned the Hundutwa brigade for conduct of the riots and the communal propaganda. Criticizing the failure of the SP administration to stop these riots, it has said that evidence points to Samajwadi Party’s willful and conscious connivance in permitting and aggravating these riots. UP Committee of the party expressed its deep anguish at the massive loss of innocent lives and property in Muzzafarnagar and adjoining districts and appealed to the people to maintain restraint.
During Gujarat riots slogans against inter community marriages, religious conversions and false stories implanted of exploitation of hindu women and their sale after marriage were used to attack Muslim and Christian minorities in Dangs, Bardoli, Sanjoli and throughout Gujarat. In UP, in the Faizabad, Pratapgarh and Kosi Kalan riots similar propaganda was used. Now in Muzaffarnagar a similar slant has been given to the August 27 accident of Kawal village under PS Jansath. This was initially reported as a motorcycle accident but later stories of eve teasing were spun around the issue. It was alleged that after a muslim youth was killed by 2 brothers of a girl who had been eve-teased, they were lynched by a crowd. The video circulated by BJP MLA Sangeet Som is reported to be 2 years old and belongs to Pakistan where the boys are being reprimanded in Punjabi language.
The sentiment of safeguarding ‘honour of their women’ within the Jat community is being exploited by Hindu communal elements, even though the dishonourable practice of ‘honour killings’ against inter caste marriages is much prevalent amongst them. With medieval feudal values in vogue, they have become easy prey to this propaganda. And all parliamentary parties including the Congress, RLD and BSP and the BKU having stake in Jat votes sent their local leaders to push for attacking the muslims, their national stance notwithstanding.
Even as the riots and dastardly killing of innocents has taken a toll on peace, several BJP leaders have come out to condemn rise in what they call ‘love jehad’. Though the govt woke up very late and lodged cases against some BJP leaders including an MLA for circulating fabricated videos as well as several manipulated news items, their allegations that minorities misbehave with Hindu women continues shamelessly. Sections in the media too are playing along, giving prominence to their baseless claims of rise in exploitation of Hindu women by Muslims. A common story circulated by RSS functionaries is about muslim boys being paid these days to wear modern clothes and woo Hindu girls from gates of women’s colleges. The UP govt led by Samajwadi Party has been conspicuous in its inability to put a firm stop to all this.
The RSS laboratory of communalizing Gujarat by Amit Shah and Narendra Modi in 2002 is being re-invented in UP and the state govt and state intelligence are deliberately looking the other way. While Congress leaders blame the state govt, the Union Home Ministry has affirmed its faith in the state govt’s response to the situation.
The callous and inept handling of the inflamatory situation from the beginning by the SP govt shows that it actually connived to allow these clashes to take place.
Since 31st itself the BJP began holding communally charged ‘condolence meetings’ in several villages. These were supported by BKU, RLD, Congress and even BSP leaders. BKU leader Rakesh Tikait has been close to the BSP and is willing to play a communal game. BJP held a bandh in Muzaffarnagar on Sept 5, 2013. It organized a dharam sansad in Devikund of Deoband. This was banned late in the night, but the ban was not propagated. People were allowed to gather and later permission was given to hold a Maha Yagya in Mahakaleshwar Gyan Mandir.
BJP sponsored a panchayat to “protect Bahu-Beti” for Sept 7 in Nangla Mandaur. This was propagated since 31st August itself. Mobilization for this took place through several preparatory public meetings in several villages in Muzaffarnagar, Bijnor, Shamli, Meerut, Baghpat and others. Chaudhary Hukum Singh (BJP), Sangeet Som (BJP MLA from Sardhana), BKU president Choudhary Naresh Tikait, spokesperson, Rakesh Tikait, Surendra Singh of Deshkhap, Mullick of Gathwala Khap, Ex MP Harendra Mullick of Congress and others gave inflamatory speeches and spewed venom against muslims. From Bijnor district BJP MLAs Lokendra Singh Chauhan of Noorpur and Bhartendu Singh Sadar and Lok Dal MLA Swami Omved freely rallyed people through the Ganga barrage which is the only road route. Last minute bans were imposed but deliberately not implemented, in order to give confidence to the communal elements.
On the other hand it is on video record that even muslim congregations were permitted in which leaders of Samajwadi Party, Congress, BSP gave aggressive action plans against the Jats.
All this highlights that there is a deep penetration of Hindu communal elements in the state administration. They use it to promote pro Hindutwa politics. DGP UP Devraj Nagar and three ADGs made repeated helicopter landings and the administration present prepared several reports. But none stopped these communal gatherings. In fact it has been reported that officials went and addressed these gatherings collecting memoranda addressed to the govt. Some leaders even gave statements saying that the govt is not against public meetings.
Since in power this time with a simple majority on its own, the Samajwadi Party govt has been permitting aggressive Hindutwa to mobilize to the point that they attack the muslims. Several riots took place in UP in Faizabad, Pratapgarh, Kosikalan, Barielly, Mussorie in Ghaziabad, Allahabad, Lucknow, etc since SP govt came to power in 2012. In all these muslims became the target of aggressive Hindutwa communal forces with the administration and police freely siding with them and booking several false cases against the muslims who have themselves suffered losses. Muslim leaders of the SP have then tried to woo the muslims through relief measures, case withdrawal promises and compensations, etc. The SP govt though has precious little to fulfill their election promise of setting free all innocent Muslim youth who were charged as terrorists by the previous BSP state and Congress govt. They languish in jail without even a charge sheet. The attempt is to polarize the vote bank with Lok Sabha elections in mind. It appears that the SP feels assured of its ‘core’ vote bank of Yadav and Muslims and are seeking a better harvest through wooing sections of the Upper Caste Hindus this time. SP’s stand on implementation of reservation also points in this direction. BSP too had wooed a similar electoral arithmetic during 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
Ruling classes are promoting communal strife to divert attention from forceful displacement of farmers and city poor to hand over land to corporates, armed displacement of small shops to help FDI in Retail, massive price rise, freedom for corruption in high offices, devaluing rupee, rising unemployment, etc. They do not want these to become election issues.
CPI(ML) ND has called upon people to rally unitedly to oppose and defeat the communal designs of ruling class parties, particularly BJP, which want to divide the people and divert their political attention.