Why Kairana is new frontier in UP poll politics: Pot simmered before ‘lists’

* Clashes and brick-batting in Khatauli after a road accident led to a communal clash.

BJP LEADER Hukum Singh may have been forced to backtrack after alleging a Hindu exodus from Kairana in western UP because of threats by a gang belonging to “a particular community”. But behind the Kairana MP’s false alarm is a grim home truth: with state elections due in early 2017, the communal pot is bubbling again, for the first time since violence gripped the region three years ago.

For over a month now, communal clashes have been keeping the administration and police of Muzaffarnagar and Shamli on tenterhooks.

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The string of incidents and rumours that have fuelled these clashes bear an eerie resemblance to the build-up of hostility before the 2013 violence that claimed at least 65 lives and displaced thousands of families. The Justice Vishnu Sahai probe panel’s report documents several confrontations between Hindus and Muslims between August 27 and September 7, 2013, which culminated in widespread violence.
On both occasions, the violence spiked barely months before key elections — the Lok Sabha polls in 2014, the upcoming assembly polls now.

But while the clashes of 2013 were limited to villages where Muslims formed a low percentage of the electorate, the latest spike in incidents have been reported from villages and towns that witnessed peace three years ago and has an almost equal Hindu-Muslim population.

Kairana and Kandhla are both Muslim-majority towns in Shamli — this was where most Muslims affected in 2013 fled to. While Kairana’s Muslim population stands at 55 per cent, Kandhla is 60 per cent.

Muzaffarnagar BJP president, Rupendra Saini, acknowledged that small confrontations had occurred across the region. “For now, these are only small incidents. But issues like this become bigger later on. The police here, under the Samajwadi Party government is clearly one-sided. There have been several incidents like this in Sikanderpur, Charthawal, Khatauli and so on,” he said.

But according to the Samajwadi Party, such incidents are deliberate. “Nobody wants such problems. There are certain miscreants who create such things to vitiate the atmosphere, particularly before the elections. However, we will not let this happen,” said Bachhi Saini, head of SP in Muzaffarnagar.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Deepak Kumar confirmed the recent spike in such incidents in the region. “But not all of them were communal in nature. There has been some trouble in the past few months, but the police and district administration have acted swiftly to contain the situation. In some cases where there was communal trouble, like Khatauli, we invoked the National Security Act. There is zero-tolerance for such incidents in Muzaffarnagar,” he told The Indian Express.

According to Kumar, the police had stopped two mahapanchayats in the region and another in Shamli since April.

But when The Indian Express mapped the widening fault lines in four villages in the region that has witnessed communal tension for the first time since 2013, this is what emerged:

Dadhedu

* 8 km west of Muzaffarnagar town; 3,200 of 5,500 voters are Muslim

On June 7, a clash between Hindus and Muslims had the district magistrate, senior superintendent of police, the provincial armed constabulary and the rapid action force rushing here. A case was registered and three arrested.

A senior Charthawal police officer, who was in the village that night, said, “It was just before Maghrib prayers. As the aazan began, devotional songs from a nearby Ravidas temple 300 metres away began to blare over loudspeakers. A group of Muslims asked the temple to stop the music till their prayers were completed and a fight ensued. We received a call that rioters had pelted stones at the temple.”

According to former Dadhedu pradhan Mohammed Tyagi, the quarrel was limited to about 15 residents. “They did fight, but there was no brick-batting. We only requested them to play their songs after evening prayers, which they have agreed to now,” he said.

Kalu, one the three temple caretakers, said the incident lasted fewer than 10 minutes. “There was a needless fight and the police were called. However, it was settled. And we have agreed to delay the songs from the temple loudspeaker,” he said.

Bhalwa

* 20 km south of Muzaffarnagar town; 700 of 1,600 voters are Muslim

On June 12, a ruckus erupted over the use of loudspeakers in temples and mosques. While police officers said no arrests were made, local resident Satish Kumar told The Indian Express that trouble began at around 7 pm. “While the aazan had started, devotional songs were played at the Ravidas temple some 500m away. Muslims protested and two groups of people argued,” he said.

According to Jitender, the Bhalwa pradhan, police arrived that evening, but the issue had been sorted by then. “Some miscreants had a fight over loudspeakers but the village elders and I managed to prevent further trouble. The issue was small and it has been sorted out,” he said.

Khatauli

* 25 km south of Muzaffarnagar; 77,000 of 3 lakh voters are Muslim

The spark here was a minor accident between an e-rickshaw and a two-wheeler on May 5. Police sources said an argument ensued after the accident between the e-rickshaw driver Shahwej and the motorcyclist Himanshu, which soon turned violent in Khatauli’s Devidas mohalla. “Supporters from both communities gathered and argued. After a while they started brick-batting,” a senior police officer said.

SP leader Saini told The Indian Express that the quarrel began after a road accident spiralled out of control. “Two communities came face to face and there was some brick-batting, in which a policeman was injured. However, swift action was taken after the DM and SSP arrived and arrests have been made,” he said.

Akbarpur Suneti

* 17 km west of Shamli; 1,700 of 2,350 voters are Muslim

On April 7, the mutilated body of a 35-year-old-woman, belonging to a Kashyap household, was found two days after she went missing from her house. A case of kidnapping, rape and murder was registered against two of her Muslim neighbours — Kurbaan and Mohsin.

But the case took a controversial turn when two of her family members became co-accused in the case. “Apart from the statements of the two Muslim men, the names of the woman’s two family members — her brother-in-law and nephew — were added to the case since we found circumstantial evidence of their involvement. We checked their call detail records and location at the time of the incident. Out of the four accused, we have arrested two so far.

Her family members who are accused in the case are still at large,” said Vijay Bhushan, Superintendent of Police, Shamli.

Family members of the victim, on the other hand, accused the police of bias. “They (police) came to our house early morning, woke up the women in our family who were sleeping outside, and misbehaved with them and hurled abuses. We live a hand-to-mouth existence. Our only hope of getting justice was by approaching Babu ji (Hukum Singh),” said the victim’s husband.

On May 31, Singh approached Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, asking for intervention in the case and had even threatened a mahapanchayat if the case was not dropped against the Hindus. It was during this meeting with Rajnath that Singh alleged that 250 Hindus from Kairana had left their homes allegedly due to lack of security.