Inflammatory remarks by contestants threatened to vitiate the atmosphere in communally sensitive western Uttar Pradesh as the polling date nears. BJP legislator Suresh Rana, who was an accused in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar communal riot and a candidate from Thanabhavan Assembly seat in Shamli district, landed in fresh controversy after he reportedly said that Kairana, which hit the headlines after allegations of mass exodus of Hindu families, and Deoband, which houses the famous Islamic seminary Darul Uloom, would witness curfew if he won the polls.
''There will be curfew in Kairana, Deoband and Moradabad if I win from Thanabhavan.......If I lose there will be celebrations in these places,” Rana said while addressing an election meeting in his assembly constituency on Saturday. Rana, however, on Monday clarified that his remarks had been twisted and that he had spoken about the goons in the Samajwadi Party (SP). The matter came to light after a video showing Rana making the remark went viral on social networking sites.
The police said that they were looking into the reports and would examine the video footage of Rana’s speech and register a case if it was found to be objectionable. The SP and the Congress decried the remarks and demanded action against the BJP leader. “He must be barred from contesting the polls....BJP wants to polarise the voters to win the polls,” said senior SP leader and state minister Azam Khan.
State BJP leaders here said that they were not aware of Rana’s remarks. Barely a few days ago, another BJP candidate Sangeet Som, also an accused in the Muzaffarnagar communal riots and a saffron party nominee from Sardhana seat in Meerut district, was booked for violation of the Model Code of Conduct after he allegedly showed CDs of his speeches during the communal violence in Muzaffarnagar.
Published 30 January 2017, 20:25 IST