Uttar Pradesh becomes perfect secular through new Muslim DGP
What
is the best way to woo Muslims and get identified as a true secular in a state
like Uttar Pradesh? There are, indeed, various ways but to get back Muslim
support, especially after vicious Muzaffarnagar riots in 2013, the best way is
to assign a Muslim police official or administrator to the topmost post of the
state administration. And the Akhilesh Yadav government has followed this route
by naming Rizwan Ahmed as the first Muslim Director General Police of the
state. Despite the fact that the riot despoiled both Hindu and Muslim
communities simultaneously, weird secularism prevailing India opts for designating
a Muslim police official only. In this case, Mulayam
Singh Yadav, Samajwadi Party supremo, call
the shots finally.
The report
on rediff.com also states that “Evidently, Mulayam’s Final Decision Is Understood To Have Been
Influenced By His Desperation To Woo Back Muslims, Who Were Appearing To Be
Terribly Disillusioned With The Ruling SP Because Of The Government’s Poor
Handling Of The Muzaffarnagar Riots.”
Is there anyone to distrust
secular credentials of Uttar Pradesh now? Everyone fears his own life. Isn't it?
Rizwan Ahmed takes over as UP's first Muslim police chief
The New Year in Uttar Pradesh
dawns the advent of the state’s first Muslim director general of police, with
chief minister Akhilesh Yadav naming 1978 batch Indian Police Service officer
Rizwan Ahmed as the new police chief.
Ahmad, who was heading the
railway police set up in the state, assumed office of the DGP, in Lucknow on
Tuesday evening, following the retirement of Devraj Nagar, who had taken over
the reins of the state police barely a few months back.
Ahmad too will superannuate in
the next three months when he turns 60. However, in view of the forthcoming Lok
Sabha elections, there was every possibility of him getting an extension, since
the poll notification would in all likelihood be issued around March 2014.
While Ahmad had been in the race
for the top job over the past few months, he was seen an unlikely choice,
essentially because UP Chief Secretary Jawed Usmani also happens to be a
Muslim. Going by the traditional logic, successive governments avoided having
the chief secretary and DGP of the same caste or creed. And given the
significance that governments have been giving to caste an religion over merit
or seniority, even Ahmad used to feel that he may not be considered at all.
However, it was
Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav who used his veto to handpick
Ahmad, overlooking the claim of other aspirants -- A L Banerjee, Arun Kumar
Gupta and Ranjan Dwivedi.
Evidently, Mulayam’s final
decision is understood to have been influenced by his desperation to woo back
Muslims, who were appearing to be terribly disillusioned with the ruling SP
because of the government’s poor handling of the Muzaffarnagar riots.
Apart from the communal violence
that took more than 50 lives, most of whom were Muslims, the UP
government was also harsh on those who were rendered homeless and had sought
refuge in relief camps set up for the victims. As many as 34 children died in
the relief camps because of the inadequate arrangement to protect them from the
biting cold.
And no sooner than Congress vice
president Rahul Gandhi sneaked into these camps unannounced to highlight the
plight of the victims, the state government not only ordered closure of the
camps, but also uprooted the victims.
Mulayam, who was widely seen to
be doing all the backseat driving behind his chief minister son, even went to
the extent of labeling the camp inmates as “conspirators planted there by the
Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party.”
Having drawn much flak on account
of these controversies, Mulayam hopes to retrieve his apparently lost Muslim
support with one stroke -- appointing a Muslim as the state’s first Muslim
police chief.
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