Opinion
Cruel Untruth
Dr Mohammad Manzoor Alam
Samajwadji Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav has been contradicted by his own government. A report of the UP administration has confirmed the death of 34 children in the refugee camps of Muzaffarnagar riots victims. The death occurred between the time these camps were set up after the September riots and middle of December.
Only a few days ago, Mulayam Singh Yadav had said there was no problem with the camps and no refugees were living in the camps any longer. He said that only Congress and BJP troublemakers were living in the camps, not refugees. Naturally, there was no question of children dying in cold, according to Mr Yadav.
Now that Uttar Pradesh government officials have found the evidence of these deaths they are trying to deny the state’s accountability. They are saying they did not die from cold but from diarrhoea and other diseases. They are not admitting that the deaths had anything to do with the sub-human living conditions in the camps which can destroy people’s immunity to disease.
According to latest reports, the government has started dismantling the camps, forcing people to leave for more dangerous locations. The sheer lack of shelter in harsh winter conditions can prove to be lethal for the infirm, children and the old. Going back to their villages is still dangerous.
The Samajwadi Party is said to be aiming for an informal alliance with BJP in the coming Lok Sabha polls and a more formal arrangement later in post-Assembly polls period. For that the Muslims are being left to the mercy of the Sangh.
It is common knowledge that behind the more than 120 anti-Muslim riots in UP over the period of SP rule is the understanding between the SP and BJP that these riots would polarise society enough for the BJP to garner the Hindu vote, and the Muslim vote would automatically go to SP.
However, in this calculation the Muslim vote has been taken for granted. A good part of the Hindu vote may be cornered by the BJP in a communally-polarised situation, but the Muslim vote will never go to the SP for failing to prevent riots. The SP has seriously miscalculated here.
The Union Minister Beni Prasad confirmed this in Lucknow at a press conference in Lucknow late last week. He mentioned the SP-BJP understanding on the riots.
This blatantly cruel and mischievous tactic is not going to pay dividend, not to the SP at least. Muslims, the backbone of SP support base, have already seen how the Akhilesh Yadav government pretended to act against Sangeet Som and company for Muzaffarnagar riots, but did just the opposite.
Earlier, Mulayam Singh Yadav announced that Muslim young men falsely implicated in terror cases and jailed would be freed, but did not produce the necessary papers before courts, which rendered it into the farce that it was intended to be.
Time will tell Samajwadi Party dishonesty and cheating do not pay. g