BJP MLA from Khatauli, Vikram Saini, on Sunday said he would resettle at least 25 Hindu migrant families from Pakistan, now living in Delhi, in his native village Kawal in Muzzafarnagar district by giving them land and building houses for them.
Saini, who is an accused in the 2013 Muzzafarnagar riots cases, had earlier that said Pakistan should enact a law on the lines the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) so “persecuted Muslims from India can go there”.
Around eight members of a Hindu family from Pakistan’s Sindh province, who had come to India in 2013 on a Pakistani visa, had met Saini on Saturday. “I will ensure that at least 25 families of Hindu refugees from Pakistan not only get land but houses built for them at my native Kawal and in other areas in my constituency,” Saini told The Indian Express.
The 2013 Muzzafarnagar riots in which 62 people were killed and nearly 5,000 displaced, began from Kawal over an altercation between a Hindu and Muslim youngster on August 27, 2013.
Welcoming the MLA’s assurance, a member of the Hindu refugee family said the enactment of the new citizenship law has rekindled hope in them. “Since we came here in India in 2013, we have been running from pillar to post for getting Indian citizenship. But were told by officials that to become to a citizen, we have to live in India for atleast seven years.”
On Friday, Saini had said CAA was necessary for Hindus. “The CAA is a necessary law for the Hindus. I think Pakistan should enact a similar law for Muslims. While India will accept all the Hindus from there, a (Pakistani) law like India’s CAA will encourage Muslims of India to go there. The two countries should exchange persecuted Hindus and Muslims from each other’s territory,” he had said.
Meanwhile, speaking at an event in Muzzafarnagar on Sunday, BJP MP and Union Minister Sanjeev Baliyan called the CAA “a historic step”.