AAP’s Statement on Violence in Muzzafar Nagar
The worst fears about the communal situation in the country are coming true. For several months there has been serious apprehension that a communal conflict might be engineered in Uttar Pradesh to suit the electoral calculus of major political parties. On the one hand the presence of Amit Shah – Modi’s trusted lieutenant – gave rise to concerns of communal polarisation; on the other hand it was clear that the Samajwadi Party’s government would welcome any opportunity of counter-mobilization to Distract the people from itsshameful record on law and order and of governance in general.
This is what appears to be unfolding in Muzaffarnagar. While, the spark came from a ten-day old local conflict, it is clear that the situation has assumed its current proportion due to overt and covert stoking of communal fire by the RSS-BJP combine and the Samajwadi Party government. On the one hand, the presence of several political leaders, mostly from the BJP, in the Maha-panchayat that preceded violence confirms the suspicions about the role of RSS-BJP.
Allowing the circulation of fake-videos, the inexplicable decision to allow a Maha-panchayat and then the counter-gathering by the other community and the delay in deployment of the army suggest that government too was unwilling or unable to control the situation ,if not complicit in this violence.
The occurrence of more than two dozen riots during the tenure of the SP government indicates a near collapse of law and order. Unfortunately, instead of focussing on rapid restoration of normalcy and communal harmony, political parties are busy scoring points against one another.
The political establishment of the country is determined to by-pass issues of corruption, price rise, unemployment and the lack of basic public goods and services in the run-up to the coming general elections; be it the BJP and Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh, or Congress or any other mainstream political parties in other parts of the country. The responsibility of keeping the focus of democratic contestation on the real and substantive issues now falls upon the people and people’s organisations and movements. AAP resolves to join the people in this endeavour and calls upon all the patriotic citizens not to fall prey to divisive communal propaganda and to maintain communal harmony.
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