BJP MP claims ‘exodus from Karauli’, police says ‘totally incorrect’

Ajmer, Alwar, Sawai Madhopur and Hanumangarh are among these districts, with police taking out flag marches in some of them.

On Saturday, Meena sat on a protest at the Karauli district collectorate demanding arrests in the Karauli incident.

Karauli SP Shailendra Singh Indoliya told The Indian Express: “Meena’s claims are incorrect, we verified the claims.” He said the administration had constituted a committee with police and administrative officials. “The committee submitted in its report that no such thing has happened. We have verified it and found it to be totally incorrect.”

Communal tension had erupted in Karauli following stone-pelting at a motorcycle rally passing through a Muslim-dominated area on Nav Samvatsar, the Hindu New Year, leading to arson. In a letter submitted to Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, Meena has shared a list of 195 persons who have allegedly fled the place, along with their fathers’ name; The list mentions no address. In the letter, the BJP MP has said that the exodus has taken place from “Muslim majority Dholikhar locality” and mainly constitutes Dalits such as Jatavs, Khatiks, Kahars, Dhobis as well as Kumhars (OBCs). Meena has claimed that the main accused in the incident have not been arrested while “hundreds of” innocent people are being questioned at police stations. On Saturday, the MP claimed he was arrested from outside the collectorate. The Karauli SP said the MP was “dispersed” under CrPC Section 129 (Dispersal of assembly by use of civil force) since he was flouting the curfew.

Congress spokesperson Swarnim Chaturvedi said: “Nothing like what he has claimed has happened. A person may have left to earn their livelihood, but no one has left Karauli due to communal reasons.”

He added: “No one pays heed to Meena in the BJP. He has become irrelevant. Hence he hopes to re-establish himself by trying to gain political mileage and thus keeps bringing new ‘facts’ every other day.”

BJP MLA and party spokesperson Ramlal Sharma said, “It is true that there are several places in the state where an exodus of Hindus has begun. This includes Karauli, Kota, Jaipur, Chittorgarh, etc. where people are selling their properties for very little.” On the government’s denial that no such thing has happened, he said: “If the government is denying it then it is lying.”

As per the FIR lodged over the April 2 violence by Karauli police station SHO Rameshwar Dayal Meena, at 4 pm a Shobha Yatra to mark Nav Samvatsar was taken out through the town by “400-500 persons on 200-215 bikes” who raised slogans such as “Jai Shri Ram” and brandished flags. A vehicle with a DJ system accompanied them blaring songs “of Hindu organisations”, it added.

As the yatra reached a Muslim locality near Masjid Maniharan, the local residents allegedly began pelting stones from rooftops, injuring people on bikes and the policemen accompanying them, the FIR said. Meanwhile, the Muslims claimed that they were provoked by “objectionable” songs being played on the DJ system.

The FIR said the stone-pelting appeared to be a “planned conspiracy” and that in the ensuing violence, over three dozen shops were burnt and about two dozen persons injured. The police personnel accompanying the march were unable to control the violence and many of them were also injured in the stone-pelting.

As per Director General of Police M L Lather, as of Friday the police had arrested 23 persons out of the 44 identified in the main FIR; while the report had named 37 persons, the police identified seven more on the basis of videos. Lather said a total of 10 FIRs, including the main one by the Kotwali SHO of Karauli and nine by others, have been registered in the violence.