Kairana: BJP team finds ‘Hindu exodus’ reports correct

The fact finding team of the BJP that visited Kairana earlier this week, has confirmed reports of Hindu migration from the town.

The nine-member committee sent by the BJP to probe into the matter said on Friday that there had indeed been a mass exodus in the town of Kairana in Shamli district in Uttar Pradesh.

The team submitted its report to UP governor on Friday. BJP MLA Suresh Khanna, who headed the Kairana probe team, claimed that migration due to fear, extortion and ransom threats by goons was rampant.

“There is no justice, as the police is hesitant to act against the criminals of a particular community and complaints are not registered if the victim belongs to a particular religion. They are asked to settle it among themselves,” he told reporters.

The BJP report has demanded that the state government clarify what action it had taken against local criminals and maximum arms licences were issued to persons belonging to which community.

The party has demanded a CBI inquiry into incidents of migration and action against those responsible for it. The BJP also demanded that those who had migrated should be asked to return and rehabilitated. The government should also pay them adequate compensation and police officials who have failed in ensuring peace in the area, should be punished.

The three-page report mentions a few case histories and also lists the points which need to be investigated further.

State president Keshav Prasad Maurya said that the party will prepare a roadmap to further intensify the issue across the state “which has many more Kairanas”.

It is noteworthy that in its preliminary report submitted to the government, the Shamli administration has listed lack of industries and health and educational centres in Kairana as the reasons behind the economic migration.

Out of the 346 families listed by BJP MP Hukum Singh, the local officials had investigated 119 of which it found that 68 had left Kairana 10 to15 years ago for employment, business, education of children, health and other reasons.

Four persons on the list are dead, while 13 families were found still living in Kairana. The remaining families left Kairana over five years ago due to various reasons but their ancestral property, homes and shops are still intact in Kairana.

Shamli District Magistrate Sujeet Kumar quashed the findings of the BJP and said that only 3 families in the region had shifted because of the fear of rising crimes.

The BJP, however, is unrelenting and claimed that the forced migration of residents was due to fear induced by the police appeasement of criminals belonging to the minority community.