4 of RSS Muslim wing detained for carrying ‘provocative’ booklets

The members of Muslim Rashtriya Manch, all from North Dinajpur in West Bengal, were detained on December 8, but they were later let-off on personal guarantee of local BJP leaders. Returning Officer Nand Kishore Lal, however, is pushing for imposition of stricter charges.

“Maulana Mazhar Qadri, who says he wrote the booklet, told us that he campaigned in UP during the Lok Sabha elections with it. He revealed that his team reaches a spot two-three days ahead of BJP president Amit Shah holding a meeting to distribute the booklets and interacts with community members,” Lal said.

“I have written to the Madhupur DSP, asking why they let the men go without booking them for promoting enmity and circulating materials spreading rumour and fear,” he said.

“…. Congress has presided over the most Hindu-Muslim riots, yet Muslims look up to Congress as their messiah. We have to decide now as to who the “maut ka saudagar” is; you will understand that the Gandhi family is the maut ka saudagar. It is time the people boycott Congress and form a platform to support BJP,” the booklet states.

The literature mostly talks about the Operation Polo, the code name of the Hyderabad “Police Action” in September 1948 when military forced its Nizam to annex the state in the Indian Union. It mentioned alleged atrocities on Muslims during that period. The booklet also accused Assam CM Tarun Gogoi of working against the community.

The four men were detained when the Returning Officer and his team during a routine operation raided Burdwan Guest House of local BJP leader Avni Bhushan. Around 200 copies of the booklet was found on them.

Qadri along with Mohd Aslam, Mohd  Junaid Alam and Mohd Masoud Raza had earlier been to Barhi and Barkatha constituencies. Amit Shah had addressed a rally at Barhi on December 1.

In a video clipping made available to The Indian Express, Qadri says he is a madrasa teacher who works for the Manch in Delhi. “We want to tell Muslims that they have voted for the Congress for 60 years. We want to tell them to give their votes to the BJP,” he said.

Madhupur, which would go to poll on December 14 in the fourth phase of Assembly elections in Jharkhand, is  considered as the entrance to the Santhal Pargana region of the state. Elections on 16 seats in the region would be held on December 20 in the fifth phase.

While JMM has 10 of its 18 MLAs from this region, BJP has only two representatives from the area. The Indian Express had reported on December 5 that BJP’s is looking for polarisation in the Santhal Pargana region, where  Muslims constitute roughly 20 per cent of the population.

In Madhupur, most parties have fielded Muslim candidates, however, BJP has named Raj Paliwal as its nominee. The local sitting MLA Haji Hussain Ansari of JMM.