{"id":2807,"date":"2013-04-07T11:07:06","date_gmt":"2013-04-07T11:07:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nehadixit.in\/?p=2807"},"modified":"2023-09-15T11:25:15","modified_gmt":"2023-09-15T11:25:15","slug":"this-election-is-a-fight-for-honour-and-revenge-amit-shah-tells-jat-audience-in-riot-areas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nehadixit.in\/this-election-is-a-fight-for-honour-and-revenge-amit-shah-tells-jat-audience-in-riot-areas\/","title":{"rendered":"This election is a fight for honour and revenge, Amit Shah tells Jat audience in Muzaffarnagar riot areas"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Anti-Muslim rhetoric runs high as the BJP election manager in Uttar Pradesh addresses meetings in areas torn apart by riots in September 2013.<\/i><\/p>\n

Neha Dixit<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

On Thursday, SDJ high school in Raajhar village, 40 km from Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, was preparing to receive an important visitor. The teachers were stringing up marigold garlands in the computer labs. Folk musicians were singing\u00a0raginis<\/em>\u00a0that satirically spoke of the emasculation of all men under the present government.The chief guest arrived four-and-a half hours late. \u201cI got delayed because of the broken roads in the area,\u201d said Amit Shah, the Bharatiya Janata Party\u2019s election manager in Uttar Pradesh. \u201cWhen Narendra Modi comes to power, each village will have proper roads and electricity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shah, 50, is the former Home Minister of Gujarat who has been accused in a fake encounter case and was asked by the Supreme Court of India in 2010 to stay away from the state to prevent him from influencing witnesses. He was accompanied to the meeting by BJP legislator Suresh Rana, who was imprisoned for 12 days for his role in precipitating riots in Muzaffarnagar and Shamli in August and September that left 49 people dead.<\/p>\n

Since the Raajhar event was billed as a private meeting with the Jat community organised by Amit Pawar, an industrialist who owns mines in Indonesia, Shah did not use the microphone to address the gathering of 400 Jat men for the fear of violating the model code of conduct.<\/p>\n

Raajhar village is the headquarters of the Batteesaa Khaps, a sub-group of the Jat community that dominates this sugarcane belt of western Uttar Pradesh. Western Uttar Pradesh has 25 out of the 80 seats in Uttar Pradesh. Jats have been the traditional vote base of Ajit Singh\u2019s Rashtra Lok Dal. But this September, after the communal riots in the area between Jats and Muslims, the Jat vote began to shift towards the BJP, which won only 10 seats in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections in the state.<\/p>\n

In the wake of the riots, the BJP not only managed to repackage the Jat identity into that of a larger Hindu one but also deflect attention from the bad governance of its own candidates. It fanned the demand for the withdrawal of the 356 cases against members of the Jat community for rioting, polarising voters on communal lines.<\/p>\n

Though the crowd applauded as Shah blamed the bad roads for his unpunctuality, his explanation didn\u2019t cut much ice. After all, the constituency has been ruled by BJP MLA Hukum Singh for over two decades. Singh is one of the 16 political leaders accused of sparking off the Muzaffarnagar riots, and was the Lok Sabha candidate for whom Shah is campaigning.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, one man shouted, \u201cWe have only two demands: there should be a separate law to ban same gotra self-choice marriages under the Hindu law and all cases against Jats in the communal riots must be withdrawn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shah raised his hand to reassure the man. \u201cFor the integrity of this community, the answer is Modi government,\u201d he said. \u201cNot the government who gives compensation to those who killed Jats.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shah added, \u201cThis is the time to avenge. The leaders standing next to me\u201d \u2013 he pointed to Suresh Rana and Hukum Singh \u2013 \u201chave also been humiliated. A man can sleep hungry but not humiliated. This is the time to take revenge by voting for Modi. This will defeat both the governments: the one at the Centre and UP government who lathi-charged and tortured our leaders.\u201d<\/p>\n

The honour theme spilled over into the next meeting in the Raja Rani banquet hall in Shamli district.\u00a0 This time, Shah was joined by Ajit Singh, the headman of Lissad, one of villages worst affected in the riots, who stands accused of fanning the violence. Several khap leaders of the Jat community were also present.<\/p>\n

The meeting started with a request from Udayvir Pehelka, an octogenarian Jat leader: \u201cIf Amit Shah has come to talk to us, he must promise that he will help us withdraw all the false cases against the Jats and secondly, address a national problem, which is to control the population of this country, else soon enough votes from our community will not count and only\u201d \u2013 he stopped to make a sign indicating a beard under his chin \u2013 \u00a0\u201cthey will be present everywhere\u201d.<\/p>\n

When Shah took the stage, he declared, \u201cThis election is the election of honour and revenge.\u201d He said that women in UP were not safe. \u201cAnd when we protect them, we are called rioters because Mullah Mulayam is busy defending the minority\u201d, he said, making a reference to the support Mulayam Singh\u2019s Samajwadi Party gives to the area\u2019s Muslims.<\/p>\n

Shah quoted a Narendra Modi\u2019s tweet, promising \u201cto stop pink revolution and start green revolution\u201d. The pink revolution referred to the slaughter of cows and animals, he explained. \u201cBeggars have turned millionaires by running butcher houses,\u201d Shah claimed, taking another swipe at the area\u2019s Muslim community.<\/p>\n

He ended by invoking Pakistan, rhetoric that always plays well for a community that sends large numbers of members to the security forces. \u201cWhen Narendra Modi comes to power on May 16, Pakistan will learn a lesson for beheading our three soldiers,\u201d Shah said. \u201cUttar Pradesh has always played a role in change. This time western Uttar Pradesh must ensure that Modi comes to power!\u201d<\/p>\n

First published by Scroll.in on April 7, 2013
\nOriginal link:\u00a0http:\/\/scroll.in\/article\/660535<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anti-Muslim rhetoric runs high as the BJP election manager in Uttar Pradesh addresses meetings in areas torn apart by riots in September 2013. Neha Dixit On Thursday, SDJ high school in Raajhar village, 40 km from Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, was preparing to receive an important visitor. 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