Kairana, a historical city located in the Shamli district in the Uttar Pradesh has been in the news for all the wrong reasons in recent years. The mass-exodus of Kairana hindus from the torture being inflicted upon them by the goons belonging to the majority population of Kairana was a point of national debate before the Uttar Pradesh State elections.
Bharatiya Janta Party’s (BJP) Member of Parliament, the Late Hukum Singh had first raised the issue of the mass exodus when he released 2 lists which contained the details of the 346 and 68 families which had migrated from Kairana & Kandhla respectively. Hukum Singh was the BJP MP from Kairana, having won the election held in 2014 he had worked towards the betterment of his constituency and had not shied away from revealing the truth about the state of affairs from his home constituency. Hukum Singh passed away in February 2018 at a hospital in Noida, after facing severe breathing difficulties for a brief period. The gap caused by the loss of Hukum Singh will hurt BJP, no doubt, but it is not going to stop its pursuit of the goons who had made life a living hell for the Kairana hindus.
The Yogi Adityanath led government in Uttar Pradesh has asked the Director General of Police (DGP) to issue letters to all District Senior Superintendents (SSP) and Superintendents (SP) of police, asking them to provide detailed information, with reasons, for the migrations which took place before February 28, 2017. The time limit of a week has been given to provide detailed information in the prescribed format. This is the 2nd time the BJP government has issued a directive related to this incident. The first time the directive was issued was on June 20, 2017. But the details compiled in reply of the previous directive were found to be inadequate, leading to the government issuing a fresh directive on March 29 this year.
This might look like an attempt to rouse the mass exodus issue before the by-polls which are going to be held in 2018, on a date to be announced soon by the Election Commission. But that is hardly the case; the National Human Rights Commission had confirmed the migration of 250 families in a report sent after investigating the complaints of migration of Kairana hindus. It had blamed the change in demography to the resettlement of over 25,000 members of the minority community, done after the 2013 Muzzafarnagar riots. The NHRC report confirmed the terror of the Muslim gangster Mukim Kala, who had committed at least 47 known cases of robbery, murder, dacoity, violation of the Arms act and extortion in the period of 2010-2015. The NHRC report sent also mentioned that the exodus had taken place due to fear of the members of a particular community which was ‘in majority in the area’.
India has always welcomed people from around the globe, the migration then of the local population from their villages and towns must be a concern for the people and the state government led by BJP. The situation of Kairana hindus has improved under BJP’s regime, criminals have been placed behind the bars and the faith in judiciary has been restored. The BJP however is looking to nab all the guilty people no matter how big they are, in a bid to erase bias from the state. The efficient approach towards the Kairana issue will surely play a big part in easing the lives of the Kairana hindus and giving them a taste of security and calmness.