Facing brickbats over administrative lapses over the Muzaffarnagar riots, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav on Monday claimed that “some main political parties are trying to dangerously disturb the communal harmony in the state ahead of Lok Sabha elections”.
In similar vein, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said in the National Integration Council (NIC) meeting that “forces are fanning communal tension in order to polarise the situation in their favour”. The convergence of views was more apparent as Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah voiced apprehensions that more attempts would be made in the country to weaken the social fabric and to polarise communities in the run up to 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
Singling out the social media for being the principal culprit in the Muzaffarnagar riots, Mr Yadav demanded that the Centre should put in place a mechanism to check misuse of the social media and mobile phones to fan communal tension. “Small incidents like vehicle accidents, eve-teasing, which can be sorted out at local or panchayat level, are being converted into big problems by vested interests. From the past decades, efforts are being made to disturb communal harmony which has resulted in riots,” said Mr Yadav in the NIC meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He also stated that demolition of Babri Masjid was a pre-conceived conspiracy by vested interest in order to harm communal harmony.
Assertions of Mr Yadav got backing from his Bihar and J&K counterparts who expressed the fear that there could be communal disturbances ahead of the 2014 polls.