On Thursday, while addressing an election rally in Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed: “Azamgarh was linked to terror until 2014; BJP removed the tag”.
According to a report published by Indian Express, Modi said, “You should remember how these people played with the prestige of Azamgarh. Whenever there was a terror attack, agencies used to reach Azamgarh during their investigation. Why did this happen?”
In September 2008, after an alleged encounter in Batla House of Jamia Nagar in Delhi, two young men from Azamgarh and one police inspector of Delhi Police were killed. Later, several Muslim youth were arrested from the district for their alleged role in terror activities, and it was alleged that they were members of terror outfits.
Over the years, this town in eastern UP became synonymous with terror, so much so that people began to refer to it as ‘Atankgarh, a nursery of terror’.
This, in turn, led to a lot of victimisation of locals.
All this happened when Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati was chief minister and continued even when Akhilesh Yadav took on the mantle. During their rule, they hardly took any concrete steps to dispel the propaganda about the town despite the fact it has been a stronghold of Samajwadi Party and BSP for years.
In 2014, it was one of the few seats won by the SP, represented by Mulayam Singh Yadav, where he defeated then siting MP Ramkant Yadav of the BJP. Currently, Akhilesh Yadav is the mahagathbandhan’s candidate against BJP’s Dinesh Lal Yadav ‘Nirahua’, a popular Bhojpuri actor.
By all accounts, Akhilesh Yadav has a clear edge, which will be voting on Sunday as part of sixth phase of the general elections.
Also read: Akhilesh Yadav to Contest Lok Sabha Polls From Azamgarh, Mulayam From Mainpuri
As far as the claim made by Modi is concerned, it is far from the truth that his party removed the terror tag from Azamgarh. In reality, the town still carries the tag – dozens of Muslim youth are still languishing in jails for years as undertrials in terror cases.
What is even more important to note is that, contrary to the claims made by Modi, he and his party have done their part share in defaming the town and vilifying its residents, especially its Muslims.
Sample this. In September 2008, a few days after the alleged encounter and the subsequent arrests – which included some students of Jamia Millia Islamia – when legal help was extended by the university, Modi, who was then Gujarat chief minster, during a rally called the move akin to protecting terrorists.
Referring to the initiative taken by the then vice chancellor of Jamia Mushirul Hasan, Modi had said: “One university in Delhi, Jamia Milia University, has publicly announced that it will protect these terrorists and will fund their case in the court. Doob maro (go drown yourselves), the university is running on this country’s money and they have the audacity to hire lawyers to release these terrorists”.
Moreover, during the December 2008 Delhi assembly elections, the party put out an advisement in newspapers and elsewhere with the title “Jamia University funds to defend terror accused”. This, despite the fact that the then VC has made it clear time and again that it is not true. The party was reprimanded the Election commission.
The commission, in its notice, noted , “The Vice Chancellor of the Jamia University has categorically stated that no fund of the institute was being used for the alleged purpose and that the students of the University were themselves raising funds.”
But despite the EC also stepping in, the vilification campaign did not stop.
In fact, in 2014, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, BJP senior leader, V.K. Malhotra said, “Jamia, Batla safe houses for terrorists”.
UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath addresses and election rally in the presence of actor Dinesh Lal Yadav and BJP candidate from Lalganj Neelam Sonkar in Azamgarh district on May 9, 2019. Credit: PTI
Similarly, firebrand Hindutva leader and current UP CM Yogi Adityanath has a long history of calling the town a terror hub which dates back to the late 1980s, when the leader is reported to have made his first visit.
Over the years, he and members of the Hindu Yuva Vahini have used provocative slogan ‘Azamgarh shuruaat karega, UP Gujarat banega (The process of UP becoming Gujarat will be started from Azamgarh)’.
In fact, late last month, while addressing a rally in Azamgarh, Adityanath said: “Once Azamgarh was known in the field of education and literature but the Samajwadi Party turned it into a stronghold of terrorism.”
The CM alleged that “the SP and the BSP through mischievous means” made Azamgarh “a fortress of terror and crime to defame it and we have come to pull it out of it”. He further claimed that they have crime in their DNA and “that is why they support cases like the Batla House (encounter case)”.
Commenting on the claim made by the PM, Masihuddin Sanjari, a local resident and activist told The Wire: “It is true that in the last few years fear and suspicion have decreased but that’s not because the BJP or Modi government have anything for us. It has happened because the propaganda has been exposed by the civil society and human rights organisations.”
Sanjari further said that it is ridiculous that BJP and its leaders are making such claims because more than other parties, it is “the BJP that has been responsible for giving Azamgarh a bad name”.
