Exodus of Hindu families in Uttar Pradesh was mere a pre-poll lie, admits govt

New Delhi, Jul 19: The government has finally admitted that the claims about the exodus of Hindu families from Deoband in western Uttar Pradesh, were mere pre-poll lies.

Union Minister Hansraj Gangaram Ahir, while replying to a written question related to the alleged incidents of exodus of Hindu families and steps taken by the government to check such incidents, on Wednesday said, “A report in this regard has been received from the government of Uttar Pradesh. As per the report, no matter related to exodus of Hindu families in Banhera Khas village of Deoband, Saharanpur has been reported.”

Ahead of the 2017 Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the Bajrang Dal had alleged that dozens of Hindu families had left Deoband in Saharanpur due to deteriorating law and order. Deoband is the seat of the Darul Uloom Islamic seminary.

In 2016, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, who was then the Lok Sabha MP from Gorakhpur, had demanded Central intervention alleging that there was a large-scale exodus of Hindus from certain areas of the State due to the “collapse” of law and order there.

The BJP had made the exodus of Hindus from western Uttar Pradesh a major poll plank ahead of the Assembly elections and its president Amit Shah had raised this issue during its national executive meeting at Allahabad. A team of BJP leaders also went to Kairana in western Uttar Pradesh to investigate the matter.