Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh BJP has decided to take up the matter of mass exodus of Hindu families from Kairana city in Shamli district of UP in a big way and has formed a nine-member committee to assess the situation on the spot.
According to reports, the fact-finding team, comprising mainly members of Parliament, will most likely visit Kairana on June 16 to come out with the factual situation prevailing in the city and will submit a report to the state BJP unit at the earliest.
Recently, BJP MP and former Union minister Hukum Singh had claimed that there was a mass exodus of Hindu families from Kairana town. The leader released a list of 346 families that had deserted he Muslim-majority city since 2014 leaving their properties behind after they were allegedly targeted and persecuted by another community.
The MP went to the extent of alleging that there have been at least 10 communal killings in the town, that has become a 'new Kashmir', in the past three years.
Reportedly, the families, mostly 'well-off', fled the city due to repeated extortion and loot by by goons of noted gangster Mukim Kala, currently lodged in a jail.
Government on the issue
The Uttar Pradesh BJP has decided to take up the matter of mass exodus of Hindus and has thus formed a high level team for inspection and is also planning to launch a protest against the Akhilesh Yadav-led government on the matter.
Reacting to the mass exodus report, the National Human Rights Commission had on Friday issued a notice to the Uttar Pradesh government over the alleged exodus from Kairana due to “fear of criminals” belonging to another community.
No police action taken
The move came on the heels of a complaint that a Hindu woman was recently gangraped and later murdered in the area, but no police action was initiated due to political pressure.
Recently, a Zee Media correspondent, Rahul Sinha, travelled to Kairana and he found that people there were afraid of speaking on camera fearing for their lives.
One of the locals on condition of anonymity revealed that four businessmen were murdered in the area recently. “The atmosphere here is not good. After (Muzaffarnagar) riots, relief camps were established here. The atmosphere has turned bad after that,” another resident told Zee Media.
While BJP MP and Union Minister Sanjeev Balyan has accused the state’s Samajwadi Party government of patronising those behind the violence, rivals have alleged that the BJP is trying to stoke simmering communal tensions in the state for electoral benefits.
At least 346 Hindu families have migrated from Kairana due to goondaism and extortion threats. This figure has been provided by none other than Kairana MP Hukum Singh (BJP).
