"BJP trying to polarise Moradabad on communal lines"

"...But contrary to reports, the controversy did not start with the removal of the loudspeaker. Going by what the local SSP Dharmveer, it all originated when the local BJP MP forcibly installed the loudspeaker in the temple which never had a loudspeaker as a permanent feature. “The loudspeaker was never a permanent feature of the temple. The tradition in the village has been that only on two occasions of Mahshivratri, and Janmashtmi, a loudspeaker gets used for bhajan and kirtan. The next morning the devotees themselves used to remove it, Mr. Dharmveer told The Hindu. The SSP argues that the local MP was trying to politicise and polarise the atmosphere ahead of the by-election in Thakurdwara, an Assembly segment of Moradabad which was earlier represented by the present MP himself. “This region is very sensitive. When we got to know by some members of minority community that a loudspeaker has been forcibly installed on June 16 by the BJP MP, we got it removed,” he added. The SSP specifically mentions that among the crowd of thousands which clashed with the police on Friday no one belonged to Kanth or Moradabad. “All of them were outsiders. Even among the 62 people arrested by us and whom we presented before a judicial magistrate, no one belongs to this area but have been brought from Bijnor to disturb the social harmony,” adds Mr. Dharmveer.

But Mr. Bijay does not agree with the SSP and argues that the police administration was acting on behalf of a conspiracy of the UP Minister Azam Khan to put the Hindus irrespective of their separate identity of caste into submitting Muslim domination, a narrative which came into play during Muzaffarnagar riots. Interestingly, a compromise was reached on July 3, just a day before the BJP's plan to hold the Mahapanchayat, between Anisurrahman, the local MLA and the BJP leaders like Mr. Singh, BJP MP from Sambhal Satyapal Saini, former MLA from the region Rajesh Kumar and others in which it was agreed that Muslim had no problem with installing a loudspeaker in the temple and it would be installed on August 3, next day of Eid. The compromise was documented and signed by the people present there including the BJP leaders, says Anisurrahman, the Samajwadi Party MLA. But terms of the compromise were rejected by the BJP supporters and Mr. Singh called him to communicate that the loudspeaker should be installed the very day otherwise the compromise stood annulled, he adds."