Lucknow: BJP MLA Suresh Rana has been booked by the UP police for inciting hatred after he said that a curfew would be imposed in Kairana, Deoband and Moradabad if he was elected again in the upcoming Assembly polls in February.
Mr Rana, an accused in the 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots and the party candidate from Thana Bhawan constituency in Shamli district, had made the remarks at a meeting in his constituency on Sunday.
Thana Bhawan circle officer Sunil Kumar Tyagi said that a case was registered against Mr Rana under IPC Section 505 (making a statement with intent to incite) and Section 125 (promoting enmity between classes in connection with election) of the Representation of the People Act. The officer said that it was found that the MLA’s statement violated the model code of conduct for elections.
Mr Rana clarified on Monday that his remarks were meant for people who have spread terror in the state. “What I meant was many people have planned to leave western UP fearing the terror spread by goons and robbers. There is no city in that region where people have not planned to move out due to the fear of these goons. If the BJP forms government in UP, such elements will have to leave the state,” the BJP MLA said.
Well-known Sunni cleric Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi Mahali has also written to the Election Commission, seeking cancellation of Mr Rana’s candidature since he is guilty of instilling fear in the minds of Muslims and also attempting to polarise voters on religious lines.
The cleric said that the BJP MLA’s statement is also a violation of the Supreme Court ruling that one cannot seek votes in the name of religion or caste.
“The Election Commission should cancel his candidature because it is an attempt to disrupt the harmony in western Uttar Pradesh. Everybody knows about the role that Suresh Rana played in the Muzaffarnagar riots,” he said.
The Supreme Court had earlier ruled that “religion, race, caste, community or language would not be allowed to play any role in the electoral process” and that the election of a candidate would be declared void if an appeal is made to seek votes on these grounds.
