BJP leader’s false exodus story was to promote daughter

Uttar Pradesh DGP Javeed Ahmed spoke to media and ripped apart the allegations of exodus by BJP MP

 BJP MP Hukum Singh has alleged an exodus of families from Kairana in Western Uttar Pradesh due to communal tensions? What is the reality?

“Kairana is a town that got left behind in development path, therefore people started moving to other industrial townships that have come close by like Rohtak, Sonipat and even Delhi. This is a socio-economic demographic change, part of a larger pull that industrial cities and metropolitan cities have. To link it to crime or communal problem would be very incorrect.”

• What is the authenticity of the list that has been provided by the BJP MP?

“Why this list? I would not like to answer. The gentleman is a Member of Parliament and I have nothing to say on this”

• Have you checked the veracity of the list?

“The Superintendent of Police and District Magistrate have finalised a report in which they have done spot verification on 45 per cent of the list. The verdict is out in the open. It gives a picture that is different from what was portrayed.”

• Is there a larger attempt to step up communal tensions ahead of elections in U.P. next year?

Elections in India is a very interesting phenomenon. People try every trick in the trade. They go by the Kautilyan adage of saam daam dand bhed (by hook or crook).

 Under fire for taking a step back on the communal angle in the alleged exodus from his constituency, Kairana in western Uttar Pradesh, BJP MP Hukum Singh is now being accused of orchestrating the issue to promote the political career of one of his five daughters. In his report to the DGP headquarters, Saharanpur Range DIG A.K. Raghav warned of a possible communal conflagration in the region. He said Hukum Singh brought up the exodus issue to consolidate Hindu votes to benefit his daughter in the 2017 elections.

Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh, speaking at a rally on also came up with the same charge. Mr. Hukum Singh, however, dismissed the allegations and attacked on the Jat leader for making “cheap comments.” “If a person of Ajit Singh’s stature can stoop to this level, trying to involve my family, you can infer what sort of a person he is. Check his background. He gained space entirely due to the BJP. Whenever he contested without the BJP, he and his son disappeared from the scene,” the BJP MP said. “He’s not bothered that he’s trying to promote his son. He’s only bothered about me, that I shouldn’t do anything for my daughter.”

BJP spokesperson Chandramohan said Mr. Singh’s daughter Mriganka Singh ran a school in western U.P. and had never campaigned for herself. Hukum Singh described allegations of communal polarisation as motivated and baseless. “If I have survived in politics, it is because I am concerned about the welfare of the electorate. Frankly, I have been getting a substantial number of Muslim votes. Hold elections today, the number of Muslim votes for me would have only increased. I stand for a just cause,” he told  media in Delhi.