Kairana exodus: Four teams set up for investigation

Lucknow: With contradictory reports coming out of Kairana, a township in Shamli district in western UP the Bhartiya Janata Party’s efforts to politicize the migration of Hindus from here may just boomerang.

According to a SSP Shamli, Vijay Bhushan,  the four teams set up to investigate the charges of migration by 346 Hindu families, levelled by BJP MP Hukum Singh, are verifying the allegations.

“Our teams are carrying out on the spot investigations and even video recording to statements of the people. Four persons mentioned in the BJP MPs list died over two decades ago and about 69 families migrated to other cities several years ago because their children were settled there or due to other personal reasons.

“There have been only three cases of murder and extortion and action has been taken in the matter. Thirteen people named in the list are still living in their houses,” the official said and added that verification of other names was still on.

Last week, BJP MP from Kairana, Hukum Singh had released the list of 346 Hindu families who, he claimed, had left their homes following threat and extortion by people belonging to a particular community.

While the BJP decided to send its own fact-finding team to Kairana, the NHRC promptly served a notice to the state government on the exodus of 250 Hindu families from Kairana due to ‘fear of criminals’ belonging to another community and the BJP mounted a scathing attack on the Samajwadi government.

UP chief minister Akhielsh Yadav said on Monday that, “The BJP is saying that Samajwadi Party workers are chasing away people in Kairana. How much can the BJP lie? I expect them to do some constructive work also”.

Samajwadi Party spokesperson C.P. Rai said, “Many people have gone for seeking employment. This is nothing new.”