Don't pay heed to govt's Kairana 'exodus' narrative: Rakesh Tikait slams BJP at UP mahapanchayat

Taking Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath head on, farmer leader Rakesh Tikait has cautioned people not to be swayed by the BJP’s attempts to shift their attention to alleged exodus of people in Kairana during the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots.

Both Shah and Adityanath have raised the issue of the alleged exodus in the state’s Shamli district during recent election rallies.

At a mahapanchayat in Kairana, Bharatiya Kisan Union leader Rakesh Tikait whose outfit was part of the 13-month-long agrarian protests against the Centre, told a mammoth gathering that the Kairana exodus is a government plan and do not get influenced by it.

In 2016, former BJP MP Hukum Singh had claimed that close to 350 Hindus had left Kairana which was affected in the riots, due to threats from criminals. At the time, the Shamli district administration conducted a survey and claimed that only three families had fled the town after receiving alleged extortion threats.

In his speech on Sunday, Tikait, who received a rousing welcome at the mahapanchayat, cautioned people to remain alert about attempts to wedge a rift among them and asked them to remain focused on issues such as employment.