‘Mahapanchayat will help revive communal harmony’

Buttressing that claim, farmer leaders say that it was evident by the fact that dozens of Muslimdominated villages organised panchayats for BKU leader Naresh Tikait and assured him their full support

MEERUT: Samyukt Kisan Morcha’s (SKM) Kisan Mahapanchayat in Muzaffarnagar on Sunday could be a potential platform to revive the harmony which was jolted after the 2013 communal riots in that district, feel senior Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) and Muslim leaders of the region. The Muzaffarnagar riots had left 64 people dead and rendered over 50,000 homeless. It had also created a wide divide among Hindus (Jats) and Muslims there.

“The situation has changed a lot in the past nine months (ever since the farmers’ stir against the Centre’s three contentious farm laws began) and both communities have come closer to each other,” claimed farmer leader Ghulam Mohammad Jaula who had left the BKU in 2013.

He said that it was evident by the fact that dozens of Muslimdominated villages like Nangla, Dabedi, Kalyanpur, Jaula, Tawli, Hasauli and Shernagar organised panchayats for BKU leader Naresh Tikait and assured him their full support.

Jaula remained a trusted commander of farmer leader Mahendra Singh Tikait since his rise and led many farmer movements with him. Tikait died in 2011 but Jaula continued his association with BKU led by Tikait’s elder son Naresh Tikait who took over the organisation after demise of his father. But things changed after riots. “I parted my ways with BKU with a heavy heart following riots,” he said. Jaula later formed his own organisation to continue his work for farmers and labourers.

Earlier, former Rashtriya Lok Dal president Ch Ajit Singh tried his best to revive this broken harmony by convening “Bhaichara Sammelan” until he died in May this year. Now his son Jayant Chaudhary is carrying forward his father’s unfinished task.

The situation, however, changed when BKU leader Rakesh Tikait broke into tears after farmers sitting on a dharna at Ghazipur border were allegedly attacked by a BJP MLA and his supporters soon after the farmers’ tractor rally on January 26 this year.

Former Baghpat district BKU president Pratap Gurjar too supported Jaula’s views. “The Gurjar community boycotted BJP MLA Nand Kishore Gurjar for his violent attitude towards farmers at Ghazipur border,” Pratap claimed.

Subsequently, angry BKU leaders and supporters convened a mahapanchayat in Muzaffarnagar on January 29 to lodge their protest by showing their strength. And for the first time after the 2013 riots, leaders like Ghulam Mohammad Jaula shared the dais with Naresh Tikait and Jayant Chaudhary.

Addressing the panchayat of Battisha Khap at Bhainswal village of Shamli district earlier this week, Naresh Tikait for the first time said his supporters and he had committed a mistake by supporting BJP during polls.

Tikait had also accused the Centre of doing nothing for farmers and labourers. He had also accused the BJP of dividing farmers community in 2013 through communal riots.

Another BKU leader Mangeram Tyagi said leaders of all communities would be invited to share the dais during Sunday’s mahapanchayat. It would further instil a sense of pride and brotherhood among people and they will come closer. BKU chief Naresh Tikait’s insistence on reviving this brotherhood and harmony would help in spreading the message in villages.

On the revival of communal harmony through mahapanchayat, BJP leader and state president of party’s trader cell Vineet Sharda said his party did not believe in dividing people. “Hindus and Muslims are equally important for us,” said Sharda, adding that BJP had always honoured farmers and was working for their welfare.