Muzaffarnagar riots: politicians addressed crowds armed with swords, guns
The eruption of deadly communal riots in Muzaffarnagar is attributed to a large gathering of thousands of Hindu Jat farmers on September 7 on the outskirts of a village named Kawal, where days earlier, a Muslim boy had been killed by two Jat brothers, who were then lynched to death within an hour.
Local officials had banned public meetings after that trio of murders. But politicians, determined to hone and exploit the tension between Hindus and Muslims, held rallies and delivered speeches laced with incendiary agendas.
New footage of the mahapanchayat on September 7, accessed by NDTV, shows four state legislators from the BJP at the enormous gathering, where many farmers brandished swords and guns. The four politicians have been accused by the police of stirring communal hatred; none have been arrested so far.
Seen delivering a speech is Hukum Singh, the BJP's Leader of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly. Watching him are party men Sangeet Som and Suresh Rana. Hukum Singh tells the crowd that earlier atrocities by minorities were not investigated or punished by the administration. He later told local journalists that the gathering was solely focused on Hindu unity.
"There has been discrimination against Hindus for the last year and a half... No action is being taken on complaints... They are being troubled... girls are being harassed," he said
The footage also shows the agitated crowd leaving the meeting, shouting inflammatory slogans, wielding guns, and cleavers, and batons. The first wave of violence tore through Muzaffarnagar as these convoys passed through Muslim villages. In the next 48 hours, nearly 50 people would be killed.
At other meetings, leaders from other parties stoked the tension. After Friday prayers on August 30, for example, a meeting was called by religious leaders and politicians in Muzaffarnagar, around 125 kilometres north east of Delhi.
With an audience of about 2,000 people, most of them Muslims, local leaders from the Congress and Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party or BSP delivered incendiary speeches, according to the police. Qader Rana and Jameel Ahmed of the BSP, and Saeed-uz-zaman of the Congress, have been named in a police case for instigating communal tension. They remain unarrested.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/muzaffarnagar-riots-politicians-addressed-crowds-armed-with-swords-guns-419749?pfrom=home-lateststories
Local officials had banned public meetings after that trio of murders. But politicians, determined to hone and exploit the tension between Hindus and Muslims, held rallies and delivered speeches laced with incendiary agendas.
New footage of the mahapanchayat on September 7, accessed by NDTV, shows four state legislators from the BJP at the enormous gathering, where many farmers brandished swords and guns. The four politicians have been accused by the police of stirring communal hatred; none have been arrested so far.
"There has been discrimination against Hindus for the last year and a half... No action is being taken on complaints... They are being troubled... girls are being harassed," he said
The footage also shows the agitated crowd leaving the meeting, shouting inflammatory slogans, wielding guns, and cleavers, and batons. The first wave of violence tore through Muzaffarnagar as these convoys passed through Muslim villages. In the next 48 hours, nearly 50 people would be killed.
At other meetings, leaders from other parties stoked the tension. After Friday prayers on August 30, for example, a meeting was called by religious leaders and politicians in Muzaffarnagar, around 125 kilometres north east of Delhi.
With an audience of about 2,000 people, most of them Muslims, local leaders from the Congress and Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party or BSP delivered incendiary speeches, according to the police. Qader Rana and Jameel Ahmed of the BSP, and Saeed-uz-zaman of the Congress, have been named in a police case for instigating communal tension. They remain unarrested.
http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/muzaffarnagar-riots-politicians-addressed-crowds-armed-with-swords-guns-419749?pfrom=home-lateststories
