{"id":2796,"date":"2022-02-10T11:48:48","date_gmt":"2022-02-10T11:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nehadixit.in\/?p=2796"},"modified":"2023-09-08T09:12:33","modified_gmt":"2023-09-08T09:12:33","slug":"can-fake-terror-charges-be-an-election-issue-in-majoritarian-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nehadixit.in\/can-fake-terror-charges-be-an-election-issue-in-majoritarian-india\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Fake Terror Charges Be an Election Issue in Majoritarian India?"},"content":{"rendered":"
Rajeev Yadav, a civil rights activist who has been working with those wrongfully accused in terror cases, is contesting from Azamgarh in Yogi Adityanath\u2019s Uttar Pradesh.<\/p>\n
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Neha Dixit<\/i><\/p>\n
Sarai Pohi (Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh):\u00a0On a winter afternoon, young men with floppy hair and old men with long beards surround a petite man in his late 30s in Sarai Pohi village in Azamgarh, a district in eastern Uttar Pradesh.<\/p>\n
Mohd Javed was arrested for writing letters of love to his beloved in Karachi, Pakistan in 2002. In one of the letters, he drew a heart and inscribed J+M inside it. The police interpreted J+M, Javed+Monobina, as a code for Jaish-e-Mohammmed, a Pakistan-based terror outfit, and called him a member of its sleeper cell in India. He spent 12 years in a Rampur prison as an undertrial, was absolved of all charges and released in 2014.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile I was in jail, the only person who raised a voice for my release, ran a campaign was Rajeev Yadav from Rihai Manch,\u201d he says pointing towards Yadav, a man his age and an independent candidate from the Nizamabad assembly seat in Azamgarh.<\/p>\n
Javed is one among the many star campaigners for Yadav, who speak about their incarceration and lack of political will to intervene in fake cases of terror against ordinary civilians.<\/p>\n
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Mohd Javed with Rajeev Yadav. Photo: Neha Dixit<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u00a7<\/p>\n
\u2018Jahan aadmi, wahan Azmi\u00a0(Where there is a human, there is an Azmi).\u2019 This is a common saying for Azamgarh, which started witnessing large-scale migration almost a century ago. It is said that at least one member of each household works in the Gulf or Middle East. Azamgarh still does not have quality higher education institutions, industrial units or other employment opportunities to stop the migration. It is\u00a0one<\/a>\u00a0of the 250 most backward districts of India.<\/p>\n