BJP MLA from Thana Bhawan Suresh Rana, who is the party’s candidate from the same seat in the forthcoming elections, has said that curfew will be imposed in Kairana, Deoband and Moradabad if he wins the polls. Rana, also the UP BJP vice-president, is named in cases related to the Muzaffarnagar riots of 2013.
#WATCH: BJP MLA Suresh Rana says that if he wins, curfew will be imposed in Kairana, Deoband and Moradabad. pic.twitter.com/YYlsv0fxTm
— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) January 30, 2017
A video that went viral on Sunday shows Rana addressing a BJP booth sammelan in Thana Bhawan area of Shamli district on Saturday. In the video, he says, “Yadi maidan maar liya to Kairana, Deoband, Moradabad mein curfew lag jayega mitron…. ki Suresh Rana phir jeet ke aa gaya… isliye keh raha ki March 11 ka din hoga… Bharat Mata ki Jai ka naara lagate hue Shamli se Thana Bhawan tak juloos niklega (If Suresh Rana wins the polls again, curfew will be imposed in Kairana, Deoband and Moradabad. March 11 will be the date and a procession will move from Shamli to Thana Bhawan with slogans of Bharat Mata ki Jai).”
When contacted, Rana said he did not make any controversial remark. “I have not made any remark against any religion. I have only said that if I win and the BJP comes to power in the state, then those hooligans who had forced other people to migrate from Kairana, Deoband and Moradabad and other areas, those hooligans will have to migrate from these areas,” Rana said. He added that a large number of people had migrated from these areas due to fear and atrocities of the hooligans.
Polling in Thana Bhawan is scheduled for February 11 — the first phase of UP elections. The results will be announced on March 11. Kairana, Deoband and Moradabad are Muslim-dominated areas. The alleged exodus of Hindus from Kairana was raised by local BJP MP Hukum Singh and other senior BJP leaders last year. In its manifesto for Uttar Pradesh released on Saturday, the BJP has promised to set up a department in every district to prevent “exodus” due to communal tension.