Hukum Singh speaking at the mahapanchayat on Sept 7.
New Delhi:
Hukum Singh, the BJP legislator in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly and accused of stirring communal hatred at a mahapanchayat leading to Muzaffarnagar violence, on Tuesday told NDTV that Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's belated visit to the riot-hit district was only to appease cabinet colleague and Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan.
Akhilesh Yadav, whose 18-month-old government has been accused of failing to prevent a series of communal clashes in Uttar Pradesh, visited Muzaffarnagar on Sunday, a week after the clashes began on September 7. The Allahabad High Court today asked his government to furnish details of the number of such incidents in the state.
Without mentioning Mr Yadav's name, Hukum Singh, who finds his name in an FIR on charges of violating Section 144 (unlawful assembly) and for inciting communal hatred, said, "The Chief Minister only wanted to send out a message as one of his cabinet colleagues was annoyed. Had he been serious about his visit, he would have visited all the families."
Azam Khan, minister in-charge of Muzaffarnagar district, had stayed away from the party's two-day national executive meeting in Agra last week in protest against the state government's failure in controlling the violence which killed nearly 50 people and displaced over 40,000 people. He, however, came around on Monday, defending his government and accusing the BJP of engineering the riots.
NDTV has accessed the video of the controversial mahapanchayat of September 7, where Hukum Singh is seen addressing a large group of villagers, some armed with cleavers and lathis. He defends himself saying he made no objectionable speech at the meeting. "I was there for just 10 minutes. I noticed some people were carrying guns. I was shocked as to why the police had permitted them to bring weapons," Mr Singh said.
A week after the violence, thousands are living in refugee camps while the government has still not managed to arrest any politician whose names figure in the FIRs. Besides the BJP's four legislators, cases have also been filed against a Bahujan Samaj Party MP, Kadir Rana, and two former Congress MPs.
Akhilesh Yadav, whose 18-month-old government has been accused of failing to prevent a series of communal clashes in Uttar Pradesh, visited Muzaffarnagar on Sunday, a week after the clashes began on September 7. The Allahabad High Court today asked his government to furnish details of the number of such incidents in the state.
Without mentioning Mr Yadav's name, Hukum Singh, who finds his name in an FIR on charges of violating Section 144 (unlawful assembly) and for inciting communal hatred, said, "The Chief Minister only wanted to send out a message as one of his cabinet colleagues was annoyed. Had he been serious about his visit, he would have visited all the families."
Azam Khan, minister in-charge of Muzaffarnagar district, had stayed away from the party's two-day national executive meeting in Agra last week in protest against the state government's failure in controlling the violence which killed nearly 50 people and displaced over 40,000 people. He, however, came around on Monday, defending his government and accusing the BJP of engineering the riots.
NDTV has accessed the video of the controversial mahapanchayat of September 7, where Hukum Singh is seen addressing a large group of villagers, some armed with cleavers and lathis. He defends himself saying he made no objectionable speech at the meeting. "I was there for just 10 minutes. I noticed some people were carrying guns. I was shocked as to why the police had permitted them to bring weapons," Mr Singh said.
A week after the violence, thousands are living in refugee camps while the government has still not managed to arrest any politician whose names figure in the FIRs. Besides the BJP's four legislators, cases have also been filed against a Bahujan Samaj Party MP, Kadir Rana, and two former Congress MPs.
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