Muzaffarnagar : Security for VIPs, but none for us, say villagers

mangaloretoday.com

Muzaffarnagar, Sept 16: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi visited Muzaffarnagar this morning, where nearly 50 people were killed in communal riots so severe that the army was called in for the first time in over a decade to restore law and order in Uttar Pradesh.

"When VIPs visit, they arrive surrounded by security. Why didn’t the police arrive to help us when we needed it?"  a young man named Shahzad asked them in the village of Tawli, where Muslims were targeted.

 

Nearly 40,000 people are now living in makeshift refugee camps, with Hindus and Muslims evacuating villages where they are in the minority.

The PM said the Congress leaders wanted to share the sorrow and pain of the area and vowed "the toughest punishment" for those responsible.

A villager named Jameel broke down as he told the PM that he saw his wife and child being murdered.

The Congress’s top leaders were in this part of western Uttar Pradesh a day after Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav toured the area and confronted black flags, protests and anger over his government’s failure to stop the riots earlier this month.

The violence began late in August after two young Jat boys and a Muslim were killed in the village of Kawal over the alleged harassment of a Hindu girl. Despite that exigency, politicians were allowed to host large public rallies where delivered incendiary speeches.

A massive gathering of thousands of Hindu farmers on September 7 was also allowed; on the way home, farmers were attacked with swords and knives; retaliatory killings followed for 48 hours.