India: Press Release announces police complaint against Psephologist cum politician Yogendra Yadav by CSDS Prof Madhu Kishwar

PRESS RELEASE

Police Complaint Registered Against Yogendra Yadav's Inflammatory Speeches in Mewat: FIR Under Process

The following police complaint was registered today ( April 9, 2014) with Suprintendent Police, Mewat in Gurgaon District against AAP's Lok Sabha candidate Yogendra Yadav's inflammatory speeches in Mewat. The complaint was lodged by Madhu Purnima Kishwar on behalf of Manushi. She was joined by Major Roshan Bhatia of Gurgaon.

The Superintendent of Police,
Mewat, Dist Gurgaon,
Haryana

April 9, 2014

Subject: Request for FIR against Yogendra Yadav of the Aam Aadmi Party, candidate from the Gurgaon Lok Sabha constituency for inflammatory speeches in Mewat

I am a Professor at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies and founder president of a human rights organisation called MANUSHI. I request you on behalf of MANUSHI to lodge a complaint against Yogendra Yadav of the Aam Aadmi Party, for his communally inflammatory speeches while campaigning in Muslim majority areas of Mewat district during his current election campaign for the Gurgaon Lok Sabha seat. I am not connected to the BJP or any other political party even remotely. Manushi is an independent platform for strengthening democratic rights and women’s rights in India.

The Model Code of Conduct laid down by the Election Commission clearly mandates that “No party or candidate shall include in any activity which may aggravate existing differences or create mutual hatred or cause tension between different castes and communities, religious or linguistic.” It also mandates that “There shall be no appeal to caste or communal feelings for securing votes.”

Section 153 A of the Indian Penal Code, says that “Whoever (a) by words, either spoken or written, or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise, promotes or attempts to promote, on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever, disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities, or (b) commits any act which is prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities, and which disturbs or is likely to disturb the public tranquillity,… shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to five years and shall also be liable to fine.”

Furthermore, Section 505 (2) of The Indian Penal Code, 1860 states: that “Whoever makes, publishes or circulates any statement or report containing rumour or alarming news with intent to create or promote, or which is likely to create or promote, on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever, feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities, shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.”

However, Yogendra Yadav in particular and his Aam Aadmi Party in general have been brazen enough to make very pernicious appeals that instigate Muslims against Hindus. Yadav has a long history of indulging in communally divisive games under the garb of “socialist, secular” politics but we are confining ourselves to his recent statements while he was addressing Muslim gatherings in villages of Mewat because now he is crossing all limits. As evidence we are submitting the following news reports:

On 14th March, 2014 The Indian Express published the following report under the title, “If Modi becomes PM, questions of partition will come up again...one community will be thekedar, aag lag jayegi”. The report adds that Yogendra Yadav addressed a number of “nukkad sabhas” on Thursday, where he said that if Narendra Modi were to become the Prime Minister, questions relating to India’s Partition would be asked again….Yadav largely trained his guns on Modi and said the possibility that he would become the PM was a threat to the country. “It is not a danger just to Muslims or to Hindus, but to all of Hindustan. (Annexure 1)

The website of Sahara Samay TV channel which played the speech of Yadav quotes him saying “Modi needs to be stopped because if he comes to power “nafrat ki aag lag jaayegi’). (Annexure 2)

Yadav’s clarification published on 15th March 2014 in The Indian Express did not make things any better. He explained the statement attributed to him saying, that the headline, “If Modi becomes PM…Aag lag jayegi is the result of juxtaposition of two different statements” and that he was warning against the dangers of majoritarian politics where the voice of the voiceless and the issues of the marginalized sections get suppressed. …the communal and majoritarian interpretation of politics runs the risk of raking up long settled issues of the aftermath of the country’s partition with disastrous consequences. He said that “the meaning got unfairly misrepresented due to joining of unconnected sentences in the headline and blurb on the front page.”
(Annexure 3)

The Indian Express in its response has challenged Yadav’s attempt to wriggle out of his inflammatory statement saying:

At the crossing at Mahuchopra village Yadav said, “If he becomes prime minister, one community could become thekedaar, aag lag jayegi. We have seen Sri Lanka burn before, and India could too. We have to decide if we want to walk on Gandhi’s path or Modi’s path.”

This indeed was repeated by Yadav at various other stops during his Mewat campaign. At absolutely no point, were the words “aag lag jayegi” used in any other context other than Narendra Modi becoming Prime Minister. The story itself gives the entire context in which Yogendra Yadav said the words “aag lag jayegi.” Paragraph 4 of the story mentions the entire context in which he made the remarks. There is no unfair representation in the headline or in the story whatsoever.

Yadav is certainly not choosing the “Gandhi’s path” by resorting to outright lies, divisive appeals and politics of phobia. His choosing Mewat to make such statements betrays his real intent. This is the only Muslim majority region in Haryana. In retaliation to the ethnic cleansing of Hindus in regions that became Pakistan during the Partition of 1947, Mewat had witnessed ferocious riots. When Mewati Muslims began fleeing to Pakistan, Mahatma Gandhi himself went to this region to douse the flames of revenge and pleaded with Muslims to return to their villages. Yadav admits this saying, “when there were so many fleeing, Gandhi came to Ghaseda village in Mewat, folded his hands and asked people not to leave and 70,000 people returned home.” But Yadav chooses to ignore that fact that this particular region of Mewat in Haryana has not witnessed communal riots since 1947. However, in 2012, the tragic memories of 1947 were revived in Gopalgarh region of Mewat that falls in Rajasthan when under the Congress regime of Ashok Gehlot, a land dispute led to violent clashes between Gujjars and Mewati Muslims in which the latter were targets of attacks leading to the killing of 9 Muslims.

But Yadav is instilling fear in the minds of Haryana’s Muslims where such attacks have not taken place. He is implying that those Hindus who vote for the BJP are committed to carrying out an ethnic cleaning of Muslims. The Supreme Court appointed SIT has cleared Modi of all charges of complicity in the 2002 riots. The Nanavati Commission’s interim report as well as courts which have examined those tragic events has not found the slightest trace of guilt on Modi’s part. Despite the most hostile scrutiny by media, NGOs and courts, Modi has remained unscathed for the last 12 years. There is not a single FIR in Modi’s name. Narendra Modi has ensured that Gujarat which used to witness scores of communal riots every year under previous regimes has remained riot free for the last 12 years. Modi did not allow any communal retaliation even after the terror attack on Akshardham temple which killed numerous Hindu devotees. Nor did he allow revengeful violence after serial blasts in cities of Gujarat. And yet Yadav is making baseless and communally provocative charges against Modi for personal gain.

By accusing such a man of creating mayhem against Muslims, Yadav is the one lighting fires, where none exist. Yadav’s divisive appeal to Muslim voters amounts to instigating Muslims against Hindus by cultivating a false sense of victimhood and insecurity among Muslims, while Modi has successfully doused communal fires in Gujarat. It is as good as threatening Muslims with riots if they do not vote for AAP.

We have no problem with Yadav and AAP Party trying to woo Muslim voters. But to say that India can ever become a Sri Lanka for minorities or to project BJP as a party which undertakes ethnic cleansing of any minority, amounts to presenting a viciously distorted picture of India and its mainstream politics.

My book, “Modi, Muslims and Media—Voices from Gujarat” is based on a year-long study of Modi’s governance model since 2001. It clearly shows that Modi is being wrongly and maliciously targeted by Yogendra Yadav for his alleged role in the 2002 riots. As the evidence put together in the above mentioned book shows, Modi actually brought the 2002 riots under control within record time. Yadav’s projection of Modi as a threat to Muslims is based on lies manufactured by foreign funded NGOs like that of Teesta Setalvad and Shabnam Hashmi who are out to destabilize India at the behest of foreign powers hostile to India.

Creating siege mentality among Muslim for the sole purpose of garnering Muslim votes is to jeopardize India’s democracy and create situation of civil war. This is particularly dangerous in an environment when a section of Muslim youth have taken to terrorism as a legitimate means of settling scores with the majority community because they have been misled into believing that Hindus in general, and those who support BJP in particular, are committed to carrying out genocides of minority communities.

Yogendra Yadav and his Party are deliberately resorting to phobic politics and systematically communalizing the election arena by aggravating communal hatred among Muslims. All this amounts to blatant violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

For narrow electoral gains Yogendra Yadav is inciting the minority community with the same tactics that Jinnah once used to justify the creation of Pakistan. In the interest of free and fair Loksabha elections starting April 10, 2014, it is imperative that timely and firm action is taken against Yogendra Yadav and others who are playing sinister games to garner Muslim votes. I request you to register an FIR against Yadav under Section 153A of IPC and Section 505 (2) of The Indian Penal Code.

Yours sincerely

Madhu Purnima Kishwar,
C1/3 Sangam Estate, 1 Underhill Road,
Civil Lines, Delhi 110054

Mobile: 0 88 2637 7770