Meerut: Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Sunday issued a list of 38 villages from eight districts of western Uttar Pradesh from where, it claimed, the Hindu population had fallen drastically from 40-50% a decade ago to 8-10% at present. Claiming that there were “several Kairanas” in each district of the region, the organisation’s national general secretary Surendra Jain said they are now conducting a survey of such families across districts.
Saffron organisations are gearing up to escalate the matter of exodus of Hindu families due to alleged persecution. After Shamli MP Hukum Singh first raised the issue of exodus from Kairana and Kandhla, VHP and other organisations have been coming up with allegations of other such mass migrations in the state, particularly western UP.
Speaking to mediapersons, Jain issued a list of eight districts of west UP, including Meerut, Saharanpur, Moradabad, Rampur, Sambhal, Amroha, Bijnor and Shamli where areas were seeing a fall in Hindu population.
Apart from villages, the list also includes 32 urban localities. Surprisingly, VHP mentioned Shastri Nagar of Meerut, a Hindu-dominated locality from where no report of any Hindu family leaving under any circumstances has been reported.
In support of their claim and the list, Jain said, “Several ‘mini-Pakistans’ have been developed in districts of western UP. The government is working on Azam Khan’s directions and persecution of Hindus, harassment of girls and extortion is common. There are over 60 villages and town in western UP where the Hindu population was over 40% about 10-20 years ago but today only 8-10% of the community remain.”
Targeting the state government, Jain alleged the reason behind the exodus was “complete failure” of law and order in UP. “Criminals get political patronage while victims are thrown out of police stations without their complaints being lodged. The situation will not improve unless there is a change in the current bureaucratic machinery,” the VHP leader added.