By Digvijay Singh (AICC General Secretary),
After the Batla House encounter, I was shown a photograph of one of the persons killed in the encounter who had all the five bullets on top of his head. This, I felt was impossible in the event of an encounter. Therefore, I along with some other Congress leaders had met and requested the Prime Minister to order an inquiry into this encounter. The PM then referred this to the National Human Rights Commission.
NHRC confirmed the encounter was genuine. The aggrieved section met me to say they were not given a hearing, which I thought was unfair. They should have been heard.
I have never tried to belittle the supreme sacrifice of Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, whom I have always held in high esteem.
As I am in charge of Uttar Pradesh in the AICC, a number of delegations from Azamgarh met me to say innocent young boys are being wrongly implicated. I assured them that I would come to Azamgarh to meet the families to hear them and to understand as to how Azamgarh — which has been a centre for culture, literature, poetry and a centre for learning — has suddenly emerged as the epicentre of terrorist activities.
I along with Mrs Rita Bahuguna Joshi, President UPCC, visited Azamgarh on February 3 and 4. Our visit was opposed by the Ulemma Council which showed black flags to us. They were demanding a judicial inquiry.
We visited Sanjarpur and met the families of boys who have been arrested and also who are absconding.
I tried to convince them that instead of asking for an inquiry, they should ask for a fair and speedy trial of all the accused. They told me that more than 50 cases have been registered against some of them in four states and six cities. How can they defend their children/wards as they all belonged to lower middle-class families? They agreed that I should request the Government of India to create a special court to try all cases related to terrorism and transfer all cases in different states to this court. As it is, the National Investigative Agency has been created to investigate all cases of terrorism. Therefore, it would be convenient for the prosecution and the accused.
This, I feel is a logical demand, so that those against whom there is ample evidence should be convicted and punished, and all those who are innocent are released.
Most of the accused are young and well-educated, coming from rural lower middle-class families who have sold/mortgaged their assets and borrowed money to educate these boys. I strongly feel this section of Muslim youth must not lose confidence in our system and judiciary. Otherwise they would become easy prey to Muslim fundamentalist forces.
I have not committed any crime nor have I tried to polarise, as you allege. Nor have I acted irresponsibly to further retard the healing process. On the contrary, by our action the aggrieved and all those who feel they are being discriminated against for being Muslims would now feel that they have been given an opportunity for a fair and speedy trial. Is asking for a fair and speedy trial unfair, illogical and disturbance of communal harmony? It is the Muslim and Hindu fanatics who are spoiling the communal harmony in this country. Hindus and Muslims of Azamgarh fought the British together in 1857 and also actively participated in the Freedom Movement. Even in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition, there was no communal riot in Azamgarh, inspite of provocations.
In a meeting of the intellectuals belonging to both religious groups of Azamgarh, every one demanded a fair and early trial of the accused so that the name of Azamgarh — known for its art, culture, literature, and as a centre of learning, and now being called a nursery of terrorism — is restored to its original glory.
Do you have any objection to this?
I would be very grateful if you can print my version on your editorial page. This is the least you can do so that I can absolve myself of the charge of being an irresponsible politician who is hell bent on derailing the process of re-integration.
I have been fighting both Hindu and Muslim fundamentalists and will continue to do so in future, irrespective of what you may think.
I didn’t see this kind of a reaction in your paper when Mr Rajnath Singh and Mr Advani questioned the integrity of Hemant Karkare and asked for a reinquiry into the Malegaon bomb blast when Hindu fanatics were arrested. This, I feel is unfortunate.
(Digvijay Singh wrote this article (published in The Indian Express on Feb. 13, 2010) in response to the daily’s Feb. 5 editorial titled ‘Radical Agent’).