Moradabadcontinues to simmer but it is Samajwadi Party and Bharatiya Janata Party that stand benefited by the communal frenzy that left over 60 people, including the District Magistrate, hurt.
What is questionable is why the Senior Superintendent of Police of Moradabad gave a political statement by saying that the BJP was creating trouble in the district in view of the forthcoming bye-election to Moradabad seat. Should a senior police officer give a statement like a party’s spokesmanIJ
“The statement of the SSP came on the directive of Samajwadi Party leadership. He should express views on administration and leave politics for political parties to tackle,” BJP spokesman Vijay Bahadur Pathak said.
The BJP workers clashed with police over removal of a loudspeaker from a local temple in the Kanth area of the communally sensitive district of western Uttar Pradesh.
It all started on June 26 after Moradabad district administration removed a loudspeaker from a temple in a locality dominated by Dalits. The locals say that the loudspeaker was in the temple for last many weeks.
The objections were raised by a group of local Muslims building a mosque in that locality. The locals say there was no objection to construction of mosque in the locality though the region has four mosques. They say that local MlA Anisur Rahman complained to police about the loudspeaker and it dutifully removed it.
The sudden removal of the loudspeaker enraged Dalits. They initially staged protest and dharna but were lathi-charged. BJP seized the opportunity and saw a possible situation to get some political mileage. It tried to exploit the sentiments of Hindus while the Samajwadi Party saw a window opening for them to appease the Muslim sentiments.
Three BJP MPs and a few party legislators made an attempt to reach ground zero in Kanth but were denied entry and were detained. BJP lawmaker Sangeet Som said that they were going to Kanth because the local people had asked them to come to their rescue.
“In true sense, Muslims are not opposed to having a loudspeaker in the temple. They only requested that during Namaz the loudspeakers should be switched off and Hindus had accepted this proposal. Despite that the loudspeakers were removed,” Som said.
The Samajwadi Party has a different explanation. “The members of the minority community were traumatised by the goons of BJP. They (BJP workers) wanted to create communal trouble in the region. In last August, the BJP leaders had ignited communal fire that killed 69 people in Muzaffarnagar and they wanted a repeat of this in Moradabad,” Samajwadi Party spokesman Rajendra Chaudhary said.
“The Akhilesh Yadav Government will not allow any harm to Muslim community. It will not allow the BJP goons to traumatise Muslims. Directives are clear from Mulayam Singh Yadav to protect the minority community and that is what the Akhilesh Government is doing,” he said.