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This Article is From Sep 16, 2013

PM, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi reach out to Muzaffarnagar riot victims

PM, Sonia and Rahul Gandhi reach out to Muzaffarnagar riot victims
PM, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi visit riot-hit Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh
Muzaffarnagar: Hundreds of tearful villagers greeted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice president Rahul Gandhi as they visited the riot-affected Muzaffarnagar district in Uttar Pradesh on Monday. (Read: 10 latest developments)

Sonia Gandhi even crossed the barricade to speak to the women, despite being protected by a posse of Special Protection Group personnel.

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.  For the first time in over a decade, the army was called in to help restore law and order.

Nearly 40,000 people are living in makeshift refugee camps - Hindus and Muslims have evacuated villages where they are in the minority.

The violence began late in August after two young Jats boys killed a Muslim man who was harassing their sister; within half an hour ,they had been killed by a seething mob.  Despite that exigency, politicians were allowed to host large public rallies where they indulge din "competitive communalism", delivering incendiary speeches. 

Local administrative officials, who had banned public meetings, were present on stage at some of those rallies, fuelling the perception that the government did little to check the raging tension.

Mr Yadav has been questioned also for appearing last week in public to comment on the riots wearing a skull cap, seen by some as a gesture of taking sides.  Mr Yadav's Samajwadi Party is heavily dependent on Muslim voters.

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