In Meerut, these days, a group of angry men are busy walking the streets shouting slogans against meat shop owners, which in this case are mostly Muslims. The goons engage in hate speech, raise Hindutva slogans and are demanding that meat shops in Uttar Pradesh be shut down for the duration of Navratri, and even threaten dire consequences.

जो ना माने बातों से, वो मानेगा लातों से
उत्तर प्रदेश के मेरठ में हिंदू सेना के कुछ लोग नवरात्रि पर जबरदस्ती मीट की दुकानों को बंद करवा रहें है. pic.twitter.com/sZiVTGDt0K

— Millat Times (@Millat_Times) April 6, 2022

Mobs like these no longer seem to be an occasional occurrence; they are now dangerously normalised in many parts of Uttar Pradesh, especially in areas that are close to the Delhi-Uttar Pradesh border. What is more shocking is that such mobs, instead of being dealt with an iron hand are treated gently by uniformed police officials who engage them in discussion and try to persuade them to relent their protests for now. Various videos on social media have shown the alleged Hindutva mobsters of Meerut shout their protest and hate slogans outside a police station/ outpost, and in front of uniformed police officials. 

मेरठ में मीट की दुकान बंद करवाते हिन्दू संगठन के नेता…

पुलिस ने रोका लेकिन मनुहार करना पड़ा… pic.twitter.com/b1Ofd1CKRY

— आदित्य तिवारी / Aditya Tiwari (@aditytiwarilive) April 6, 2022

The mob has identified itself as members of “हिंदू सेना” and one Sachin, who seems to be leading them is heard telling the Meerut police person that “nothing is above religion” as is daring the cop to arrest him and his supporters. The Meerut police officer is heard pleading with Sachin and “assuring him” that he too was a hardliner/ hardcore, “Mai bhi bohot kattar aadmi hu Sachin, stithi ko samjho, maas kahi nahi bik raha hai, galat afwah nahi phailao.. kaisi baat kar raha hai yaar Sachin.” (I am also hardcore Sachin, understand the situation, meat is not being sold anywhere, don’t spread fake rumour, what are you talking about Sachin.) Then the cop is heard saying that he as a cop was enough to S@&**F (hindi swear word) if that was the case.  

This Sachin, may well be Sachin Khatik of the so called Sangeet Som Sena or ex-MLA Sangeet Som’s “private army”, who had threatened to hold a demonstration demanding the immediate arrest of those responsible for an “objectionable video” of Som. 

On Saturday, 30 people, including those belonging to “Sangeet Som Sena”, were booked by Meerut police for “rioting and loot”. This mob was accused of vandalising the food cart of Mohd Sajid who was selling a vegetarian biryani. Still the mob went on attack mode in Sardhana, the Assembly constituency that Som was voted out of in the recent elections. According to a news report, Khatik and his fellow goons vandalised Mohd Sajid’s cart while he was selling the rice dish near a marketplace. They reportedly asked him why he was selling biryani when it is “banned” during the nine days of Navratri. Sajid told them that it was a “veg soya biryani”, but  they attacked anyway.

However it is not yet known if Sachin has been arrested yet.

In Ghaziabad, there is a ban on meat already issued by the Ghaziabad Nagar Nigam. Sale of meat is banned till April 10 and officials told the media such a “meat ban during the festival is a routine order.” The order read, “It has been directed by the mayor to maintain cleanliness in temples, and to close meat shops during the period. It has been directed that cleanliness be maintained in respective zones, in temples and to ensure meat shops remain closed.”

While Sangeet Som lost his seat, party colleague Nand Kishor Gurjar was re-elected MLA from Loni. In March, much before Navratri, Gurjar targeted meat sellers saying, “I want the officials to understand, not a single meat shop should be visible in Loni… There is Ram Rajya [rule of Hindu god Ram] here in Loni. Have you ever seen a meat shop in Ram Rajya? Just consume milk and ghee, and if you don’t have a cow I will send you one.” It is not known if he has kept his promise of gifting bovines.

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A young Muslim girl identified as Arshi, a 23-year-old who runs a small tea shop has been seriously injured, allegedly when she was brutally beaten up by a mob. The incident is said to have occurred in Uttar Pradesh’s Meerut. According to information shared over social media on February 13, the young woman is in a serious condition and is undergoing treatment. Images of her in hospital were also shared over social media.

In a video clip posted to Twitter by journalist Piyush Rai, a man, who seems to be a relative or someone known to Arshi, says the young woman ran the shop to make a living for her family, and was doing well when she was attacked. He is heard telling journalists that some rival shop owners had been ‘pressuring’ Arshi as well, accusing her of doing ‘wrong things’ and then allegedly attacked her.

According to the initial news report, Arshi is suffering a critical head injury. She is currently under observation at district hospital in Meerut. However, journalist Piyush Rai, shared on social media than a first information report (FIR) had been registered against Arshi for assault, and three of her friend’s have been charged of “attempt to rape” based on a complaint made by “the rival side.”

This “rival side” has been accused of assaulting Arshi, apparently because of some sort of “business rivalry”, they allegedly accused Arshi of having “beds and sofas” in her shop and allegedly using the space for “illicit activity”. The man speaking up for her in the video denied such charges, saying the young woman was just running the tea shop and had kept it well to be able to support her family.

It is also unexplained why a man identified as Sachin Sirohi, who claims to be the “city president of Hindu Jagran Manch” has been making claims that “miscreants visit Arshi’s shop” and that local residents have raised complaints about it in the past but the police have not take any action against Arshi. He is the one hinting at so-called “illicit activity” stating that “There are sofas and beds in the shop.” It is not clear why he has been speaking on behalf of the locals while identifying himself confidently as a part of a Hindutva outfit.

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The Valentis Cancer Hospital in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh which had put out an advertisement asking Muslim patients and their caretakers to come to the hospital only if they had a medical certificate proving they had tested negative for Covid-19, has now apologized.

ANI News reported Dr. Amit Jain, radio oncologist at the hospital as saying, “The advertisement was an appeal to all the people to follow the government guidelines so that everyone stays safe. It has nothing to do with religion. We apologize as some word hurt people’s sentiments. The hospital never intended to hurt anyone’s sentiments.”

This however sounds like a half-baked apology given how the advertisement had minced no words while singling out members of the Muslim community. The Valentis Cancer Hospital which has 50 beds catering to the population around Meerut, including Mawana, Sardhana and Muzaffarnagar, had put out an advertisement last week in a Hindi daily Dainik Jagran that it would no longer accept Muslim patients unless they and their caretakers come with test results showing they are negative for Covid-19, reported The Wire.

The entire ad by the hospital, which was apparently issued in the larger public interest and also in the interest of Muslim ‘brothers’, is as below. It was put out despite the Central government’s recent, though quite hollow, advisory asking people to not label any community or area for the spread of Covid-19.

#Meerut | Valentis Cancer Hospital had put an ad in a newspaper asking new #Muslim patients & their caretakers to come for treatment after undergoing #COVID19 test & only if the results are negative. The hospital management has now tendered an apology for the advertisement pic.twitter.com/0H3Bdzw1EY

— First India (@thefirstindia) April 20, 2020

Apart from the out and out directive issued to Muslim patients, it sought to allay the brunt of the order by saying that it would accept (Muslim) patients in case of emergency but they would be tested for Covid-19 immediately and the cost of the test, Rs. 4,500 would be taken from the patient. It also said that the order doesn’t apply to Muslim doctors, paramedics, judges, police personnel, teachers and those who don’t live in densely populated areas.

The reason the hospital had stated to put out such an ad was the alleged misbehaviour of the members of the Tablighi Jamaat who had contributed to the spread of the virus in the country. Dr. Amit Jain told The Wire, “All but two cases in Meerut are connections of the Tablighi Jamaat. It is quite clear in Meerut that all the Covid cases are coming from Muslim dominated localities. So, it is easy to identify them. It proves to be a risk for all other patients and the staff if Muslims from densely populated areas are allowed to come into the hospital without tests.”

However, according to the information released by the directorate of health services of Lucknow on April 18, 46 patients out of the 70 patients tested from Meerut for Covid-19 were connected to the Tablighi Jamaat gathering.

Jain also categorically clarified to The Wire that the need for people from religions other than Islam living in Muslim dominated localities to get tested, would not apply. He had said, “In any case there are very few others in these localities. I am not saying that people from other religions cannot get the disease. But the reality is that almost all patients are Muslims coming from densely populated Muslim areas.”

“We are only saying that Muslims coming from hotspot areas have to come with a negative test result. This is for their safety only and the safety of all our patients. We are not doing this to discriminate on the basis of religion. We treat Muslim brothers on a daily basis,” Jain had said, probably in a bid to save face.

The advertisement by the hospital grossly violates the National Human Rights Commission charter of patient’s rights that is adopted by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Point no. 8 of the charter – the Right to Non-Discrimination says that every patient has the right to receive treatment without any discrimination based on his or her illness conditions (including HIC status or other health conditions), religion, caste, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation and linguistic or geographical / social origins.

Not only this, it also violates point no. 4 of the declaration every doctor in India is supposed to sign under the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations 2002 which reads – “I will not permit considerations of religion, nationality, race, party politics or social standing to intervene between my duty and my patient.”

It was only following the Meerut district administration’s warning to issue an apology, failing which the hospital’s license be suspended, did the hospital issue a statement apologizing for its words.

The Meerut district administration on Sunday directed the hospital to tender an apology, or its license would be suspended. Meerut Chief Medical Officer Raj Kumar said, “By discriminating on the basis of religion the hospital has violated medical ethics. We will issue a notice to the hospital and it will have to issue offer a public apology. If it doesn’t do so its license will be suspended for discriminating on the basis of religion.”

Meanwhile, Meerut SSP Ajay Kumar Sahni said, “We have registered a case. We are taking action as per the evidence available.”

उपरोक्त प्रकरण के सम्बन्ध में थाना प्रभारी इन्चौली को आवश्यक कार्यवाही हेतु निर्देशित किया गया ।

— MEERUT POLICE (@meerutpolice) April 18, 2020

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A fact-finding team comprising activist Kavita Krishnan, psephologist-turned-politician Yogendra Yadav and research scholar Riad Azam visited Meerut to take stock of ground realities in wake of violence during protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). They presented their findings in a report that also contains eyewitness testimonies, where serious allegations have been made against the UP police.

For instance, a dead man named Asif has been accused of being the ‘mastermind’ of the violence that erupted on December 20. But according to Asif’s father Idul Hasan, 20-year-old Asif was an e-rickshaw driver. He left for work, but parked his rickshaw and decided to come back home when the violence erupted. His family was unable to contact him and only discovered that he had been killed when the person transporting his body to the morgue called them. Asif sustained bullet injuries to his chest, but the family had not received a post-mortem report at the time of publishing the report.

Another testimony by Mr Alauddin, Director of Falaah-e-Aam Hospital, about the aftermath of the violence near Jama Masjid revealed that “police began cracking down harshly on the protesters and went inside various Muslim neighbourhoods shooting. This eventually led to the death of 6 people (five of them died on the spot and the 6th died on 24/12/19). Among those dead, 1 died at Gulzar-e-Ibrahim Mohalla, 1 at Jaliwali Gali, 1 at Ghantewali Gali, 2 died in Ahmednagar (9 and 10 no Gali). Another person got shot near City Hospital and eventually died at a hospital in Delhi on 24/12/19. The people who died at Gulzar-e-Ibrahim, Jaliwali Gali and Ghantewali Gali were not part of the protests.”

The entire report may be read here:

Meanwhile, the organisers of the nationwide peaceful protests under the banner of Hum Bharat Ke Log also issued a statement condemning police brutality against protesters. The condemns the Uttar Pradesh government for “employing unlawful and lethal tactics to harass and intimidate” protesters and also alleges, “The authorities are brazenly targeting Muslims, besides all peoples movements and human rights activists, throwing democratic norms, constitutional rights and the due process of law to the winds. The goal is not just to suppress all dissent against CAA/NRC in Uttar Pradesh, but to send a signal to anyone who may dare to raise a voice against anything.”

Taking the Adityanath government head-on the statement says, “There is little doubt that all this is happening under the personal direction, sanction and supervision of the  Chief Minister. He publicly announced a doctrine of revenge against the protesters. In a shocking audio tape in wide circulation, a senior police official can be heard saying that he has the CM’s instructions and full immunity to beat the violent protesters to pulp, so as to teach everyone a lesson. Sadly, none other than the Prime Minister has openly supported this wanton cruelty and breakdown of law and order.”

The statement identifies the regime’s tactics such as unlawful mass detentions, custodial torture, use of excessive force and intimidation of friends and families of detainees. It also minces no wrds while holding the administration accountable for selectively targeting members of the Muslim community. It says, “There are more than one reliable reports of the police raiding Muslim colonies, entering homes, ransacking them, and detaining people indiscriminately. In several places, state authorities have sealed shops and commercial establishments owned by Muslims. Notices have been issued to Muslims unrelated to any protest or violence to compensate for the damage to public property.”

Their demands are as under:

1. The government of Uttar Pradesh must to stop this state-sponsored attack, release innocent detainees forthwith, quash FIRs with large number of anonymous accused;

2. A credible and independent inquiry by an SIT under the supervision of the Supreme Court should be set up so as to ascertain the truth about protests, violence, police action and killings;

3. Institutions like the National Human Rights Commission and the National Minorities Commission must take up this case suo motto and institute immediate inquiries into the allegations about violation of human rights and assault on the minorities, respectively;

4. Police officials and personnel, whose complicity in police atrocities is beyond doubt, should be suspended and all the guilty should be brought to the book;

5. Suitable compensation should be paid to those injured in police action and to the family of the deceased;

6. Citizens constitutional right to assemble and protest in a peaceful manner should be restored;

7. To ease the climate of fear and suspicion, and to allow a meaningful dialogue, the Government of India must announce that it is not going ahead with NRC and NRC-linked-NPR.

The entire statement may be read here:

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Protests broke out in home village of Bhim Army chief, Chandrashekhar Azad ‘Ravan’ as Shabbirpur rose against the unjust invcarceration under the National Security Act (NSA). Reports suggest that abbirpur village has been cordoned off by the police and fredeom of movement has been curtailed: . No one is being allowed to enter the village. Some media personnel who had gone were held and their video footages were deleted by the police.

The health of Bhim Army leader, Chandrashekhar Azad ‘Ravan’ continues to deteriorate as am autocratic UP administration refuses even basis dignity and care in jail. Lastly NSA charges were put on him after he had obtained bail in four cases about five days ago. His condition is very critical, with infections in his lungs and kidney. He was suffering from typhoid while in jail but was not given any sort of medication and neither was proper food given to him inside the jail. Chandrasekhar asked comrades to continue the movement. He told that the government can’t stop the movement against Brahmanism by keeping one person in jail. To protest against slapping of NSA, women have sat on hunger strike inSabbirpur.
 
Meanwhile, on Saturday,  delegation of AISA including JNUSU Vice President Simone Zoya Khan, Com.Shashi Tripathy, Com.Rama Naga, Com.Ikrar, Com.Shahzad Ahmad and Com.Madhurima Kundu met Chandrashekhar Azad “Ravan” in Meerut Medical Hospital, while he was being taken back to the Trauma Centre. No one is being allowed to enter his hospital ward.
 

The post Protest in Shabbirpur Village: Dalits Protest Chandrashekhar Azad s’ Incarceration appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Agitated over growing attacks on Dalits across several cities of Uttar Pradesh,  the president of the Bharatiya Valmiki Dharam Samaj, Lalla Babu Dravid has said 500 of its members would be converting to Islam.

The Times of India reports that dozens of members of the Valmiki community took out a procession to immerse the idols of Rama, Ganesh and other Hindu gods into the Ramgunga in Moradabad on Saturday. The procession was intended to be a symbolic farewell to Hinduism.

The protestors raised slogans against the BJP and declare they will help rebuild the Babri mosque.

Bajrang Dal activists who tried to stop the procession were outnumbered.

“Incidents of attacks on Dalits have increased after Yogi Adityanath has taken over. Dalits have been targeted in Saharanpur, Sambhal, Moradabad, Meerut. The perpetrators are being shielded by the government,” Dravid told the Times of India.

Dravid also alleged that Dalits were being boycotted in several villages.

Moradabad’s BJP MLA, Ritesh Gupta, told the Times of India: “Its their constitutional right to embrace any religion. But allegations against Dalit atrocities are baseless.”

Gupta alleged that Dravid is trying to give a political colour to the issue after the BJP refused to shield his son Vishal who s wanted by the police in a recent firing incident.   
 

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Taunted as being “stone-pelters”, a group of Kashmiri students studying at Chittorgarh’s Mewar University, a private educational institution, were allegedly beaten up by locals on Wednesday.

This is not the first time that they have been targeted in this university which has around 500 students from Jammu and Kashmir.  

“Six of us were assaulted in three separate attacks that took place at the same time in the market. The attacks seemed coordinated,” said Bahar Ahmed Giri, a student of pharmacy told the media.

“They hurled abuses, called us terrorists and said we throw stones at the army. They told us to go back to Kashmir and threatened that they won’t let us study here,” Giri told the Hindustan Times.

Though none was seriously injured, the students particularly agitated over the university administration’s failure to protect them demanded action against the attackers.

The police have registered an FIR against two unknown persons. The police said following an argument in the local market two persons hit two students who in turn retaliated.
“There is nothing serious. A little scuffle happened between the students and outsiders,” said the university’s director Harish Gurnani.

Meanwhile,  a day after the thrashing of Kashmiri students in Rajasthan, hoardings were put up in different parts of Meerut city in Uttar Pradesh warning Kashmiris living in the state to quit or else.

Photo credit: The Hindu

The warning has reportedly been issued by the extreme rightwing Hindu group, Navnirman Sena.

“Boycott the Kashmiris who pelt stones at (the) Indian Army. Kashmiris leave Uttar Pradesh or (the) face consequences,” said the hoardings.

The hoardings are believed to be a response to videos circulating on the social media showing clashes between protesters in Kashmir valley and the security forces.

The hoardings were pulled down on orders of the district administration. The police said they would be filing a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.

The Sena chief Amit Jani told the Hindu, “We want to boycott Kashmiris socially and financially so that they can tell their brothers in Kashmir not to trouble the Army. This is an important thing which must be done in order to ensure the safety of the Army in Kashmir.”

Jani was arrested last year for threatening to kill JNU student leaders Umar Khalid and Kanhaiya Kumar.

A large number of students from Kashmir study in educational institutions in and around Meerut, such as Swami Vivekanand Subharti University.

When contacted by the Hindu, the vice-chancellor of the university said “the students from Kashmir were not aware of the hoardings but we are taking all precautions and safety measures”.
 
 

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On Tuesday, a group of members of Hindu Yuva Vahini barged into a room in a building and caught a couple in a comprising situation. Although it is not supposed to be the job of Hindu Yuva Vahini to decide what a couple can do behind a closed door or not, they nevertheless proceeded with the same ‘responsibility’.

According to information received, they assaulted the boy whose identity we are not disclosing for security reasons and dragged them both to the police station. The boy was from the Muslim community while the girl belongs to the Hindu community. Both are above the legal adult age and both belong to Muzaffarnagar, not Meerut.

There is a house in Shastri Nagar locality of Meerut, whose owner often lends room to couples on a daily or an hourly basis. According to  sources, house owner does this by a keeping a close nexus with police, administration and some vigilante groups, HYV is among them. HYV always keeps eye on the house. When on Monday, the couple arrived at the house to take the room on rent, HYV people were informed about it and things happened as reported above.

SP City Alok Priydarshi has claimed that the couple was not beaten but local sources inform that it did happen. Alok Priydarshi also claimed that girl was also a Muslim but it was not the case. However, the couple was let go to their homes but no case was registered against Hindu Yuva Vahini.

Nagendra Singh Tomar and Sachin Gupta of HYV were the first to be informed about the incident by locals. Tomar has demanded action against the boy while alleging that he was trying to convert the girl to Islam.

While talking to news agency ANI, Tomar said, “I have asked the police to take strict action as the Muslim boy was romancing with a Hindu girl in the house. He wanted to convert her religion. I also insist on taking strict action against the landlords who give rooms on rent without proper verification.”

Activities of Hindu Yuva Vahini are in question, again, since last week, when the group disrupted prayer in a church in Maharajganj district of Uttar Pradesh. The prayer was also attended by US nationals.

Courtesy: Two Circles
 

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Here, we will try to make sense of the caste arithmetic of the western Uttar Pradesh district. The district, which is a business hub because of the flourishing ornaments, sports and musical instruments industries, has seven assembly segments – Meerut city, Siwal Khas, Kithore, Meerut Cantt., Hastinapur, Meerut South and Sardhana.

Meerut (city) Assembly Constituency
The seat, which used to be considered a safe seat for the BJP because of a large concentration of the trading community, is witnessing a tough fight between Laxmikant Vajpayee, three-time MLA of the constituency and former chief of the saffron party’s UP unit, and Samajwadi Party’s Rafiq Ansari.

Muslims, who constitute around 1.25 lakh of the total voters (around 3.5 lakh), appear to be decisively voting in favour of the SP to keep the BJP at bay. This was evident from their high participation in the joint public address by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday.

The constituency has around 40,000 Baniya (a trading community), 30,000 Sikh (Punjabi-Khatri), 30,000 Brahmin and 35,000 Dalit votes. Local voters say that following demonetisation, the traders’ community – which traditionally used to votefor the BJP – has now decided to change their preferences. The Sikh community has an alternative in Punkaj Jolly, a Sikh businessman who has been fielded by the BSP.
Additionally, the city seat has small population of Valmiki voters – who are considered to be a “votebank of the BJP”. The community too have “decided to teach the BJP a lesson this election because of ignoring their concerns”.

“A meeting of our community was held recently at Ronakpura – a Valmiki settlement in Meerut –where we anonymously decided to vote for the BSP and create a history,” said Prem Nath Dhingra, a Valmiki leader.

But why? “Are you feeling comfortable here?” he asked standing near an open sewage drain which was emanating all-pervasive stench.

“The entire area where we live has overflowing garbage dump. Weare living in a hell despite supporting a party which has been ruling the Meerut civic body for the past 15 years,” he added.

Not only is the Valmiki community miffed with the BJP, the small and medium traders are also apparently unhappy with the saffron party because the demonetisation has “brought down their business by almost fifty percent”.
“The traders’ community has now decided to shift their loyalty. We have an option (indicating thecandidature of BSP’s Pankaj Jolly) this election,” said a book shop owner in Subhash Bazaar refusing tobe named.

Though he agrees that it is not that the entire business community, who will go against the BJP, but confidently claims that the party has lost support of a major portion of the community. He said the majority of the Punjabi community’s votes will go in favour of Jolly.

If this happens and votes of the Baniya community also get divided, it is certainly not a good news for the BJP.

On the other hand, the SP candidate Ansari clearly enjoys the support of Muslims. He is likely to get support of a chunk of the Brahmin community because of the alliance with Congress. Therefore, he is apparently giving a tough fight to Vajpayee. Interestingly, experts also do not rule out the winning probability of the BSP candidate if he successfully fetches the Punjabi votes.

“The BSP already enjoys Dalit (35,000 votes) support. If it gets success in attracting Punjabi and Muslims votes, then the victory party is certain,” said Dr Satish Prakash, political analyst and associate professor at Lucknow College.
 

Sawalkhas Assembly Constituency
It is a Jat dominated seat with around 60,000 votes of community. The number of Muslim votes in this constituency stands at around 1.25 lakh. The SP has fielded Ghulam Mohammad, who is a sitting MLA here, the BSP has given ticket to Nadeem Chauhan, the BJP and the RLD have chosen Jats as its candidates.

Though the SP’s candidate is strong here but he carries anti-incumbency. If the Muslim votes get divided between the SP and the RLD, then locals are of the view that that the RLD candidate will win. Asked what about the BJP candidate, who is also a Jat, they said that “Jats are extremely unhappy with the BJP because of the reservation issue and demonetisation which has affected their farming. We are not voting for the Congress and the SP either. Our support is first for the RLD and if not the RLD, then for the BSP”.

Kithore Assembly Constituency
The seat has major share of votes of two communities – Gujjars (60,000) and Dalits (60,000). The SP has fielded Shahid Manzoor, who is a cabinet minister in the state, the BJP has given ticket to Satvir Tyagi , the BSP has tried luck with Gajraj Singh Nagar (a Gujjar) and the RLD has pitted Matloob Gaur.

Locals say that Matloob is a strong leader and giving a tough fight to his rivals. But despite the fact that he is socially well accepted, his contest is with a former minister who has his own support base.

“If theRLD candidate (Matloob) cuts into the Muslim votes, then his prospect is strong. Otherwise, the BSP will win the seat,” they added.

Meerut Cantt. Assembly Constituency
Dalits have highest number of voters (70,000) here, Baniyas constitute around 60,000 of the total votes, the number of Jat votes stand at 30,000 and Muslims 15,000. Valmikis too have around 20,000 votes.The BJP has fielded Satya Prakash (three-times MLA from here), Congress Ramesh Dhingra (a Punjabi), BSP Satendra Solanki (a Jat) and RLD Sanjeev Dhama (a Jat).

It means, two Jats are in the fray. There is a triangular fight on this seat between the BJP, Congress and the BSP. Strong anti-incumbency was quite visible for BJP’s Agarwal. In addition, the BJP workers and leaders themselves were opposing his candidature. Dhingra is giving a tough fight to others because he is getting support of Punjabis (his own community) and Muslims (because of the alliance).

He is a popular leader in the constituency. He had secured 30,000 votes when he fought the last assembly elections on Congress ticket and lost to BJP’s Agarwal with a thin margin. But if you look at the trend of previous elections in the state, it suggests that the triangular fight always benefits the BSP.

Hastinapur Assembly Constituency
It is a reserved seat for SCs. BSP’s Yogesh Verma, BJP’s Dinesh Khattik, SP’s Prabhu Dayal (who is the sitting MLA and belongs to the Valmiki community) and RLD’s Usha Rani are challenging each other. The constituency has around 60,000 Gujjar, 25,000 Jat, 65,000 SC, 5,000 Valmiki, 20,000 Baniya, 40,000 Punjabi and 15,000 Bengali (migrated Hindu Bangladeshis) votes.

BSP’s Yogesh Verma appears to be strong here because most of the Muslims this reporter spoke to favoured his candidature. In the last assembly elections, he had independently fought and secured 42,000 votes and lost by only 2,000 votes.

Meerut South Assembly Constituency
The seat has around 75,000 Dalits votes, 1.25 lakh Muslim votes, 25,000 Gujjar votes 25,000 Baniya votes, 20,000 Jat votes and around 15,000 Brahmin votes.

The BSP appears to be strong here as its candidate Yaqoob Qureshi is a strong and popular leader among Dalit and Muslim communities. He shot to limelight after he had announced a prize money of Rs 51 crore to those who beheaded the Danish cartoonist who had stirred controversy after creating a caricature of Prophet Mohammad. He is a former minister too.

There is a direct fight between the BJP and BSP on this seat.

Sardhana Assembly Constituency
BJP’s Sangeet Som is a star candidate here. He emerged as Hindu Hirdaya Samrat following the 2013 Muzaffarnagar communal riots. He was booked under National Security Act (NSA), which was later revoked. He is a sitting MLA but faces anti-incumbency.

He belongs to the upper caste Thakur community and enjoys overwhelming support of youth but winning election this year does not appear to be a cake walk for him. The anger among Jats for the BJP is making the battle an uphill task for him.

BSP has fielded Imran Qureshi, son of Yaqoob Qureshi. Atul Pradhan, who is a popular Gujjar leader in the constituency, is the SP candidate. Again Muslim voters are present in sizeable number (around 1 lakh) here. Dalits have around 50,000 votes, Gujjars 20,000, Jats 25,000 and Thakurs 30,000.

Muslims appear to be confused between the SP and the BSP. However, the dominant theme was that they support whoever appears to be in a position to defeat Som.

Courtesy: Janta Ka Reporter
 

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MEERUT: Hundreds of Facebook friends united to campaign against the blocking of the account of a social media activist for sharing an "objectionable" post.

Soon after Rajiv Tyagi, a Meerut-based ex-fighter pilot, received communication from Facebook that he had been blocked for a month for sharing an "anti-Hindu" post, a large number of his friends on the social media site swung into action, compelling Facebook's top management to look into the matter and unblock him less than 48 hours later.

The full report published on The Times of India may be read here.

The post ‘Liberal Friends’ Unite to get Ex-fighter Pilot and Modi Critic Unblocked on Facebook appeared first on SabrangIndia.