PM, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi reach out to Muzaffarnagar riot victims

16092013

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi visited Muzaffarnagar this morning, where nearly 50 people were killed in communal riots so severe that the army was called in for the first time in over a decade to restore law and order in Uttar Pradesh.

Mrs Gandhi interacted with women, choosing in particular to spend a few seconds with one who had a large bandage on her head; the Prime Minister was handed some documents by a man with his head bowed. Rahul Gandhi was seen leaning over a bamboo barricade to talk to a group of men. (photos)

The PM said the Congress leaders wanted to share the sorrow and pain of the area and vowed “the toughest punishment” for those responsible.

The Congress’s top leaders were in this part of western Uttar Pradesh a day after Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav toured the area and confronted black flags, protests and anger over his government’s failure to stop the riots earlier this month.

Till recently, the area had been declared off-limits for politicians; delegates from the BJP, Congress and other parties who tried to visit Muzaffarnagar were turned away.

Nearly 40,000 people are now living in makeshift refugee camps, with Hindus and Muslims evacuating villages where they are in the minority.

The violence began late in August after two young Jats boys killed a Muslim man who was harassing their sister; within half an hour, they had been killed by a seething mob. Despite that exigency, politicians were allowed to host large public rallies where they indulged in “competitive communalism”, delivering incendiary speeches.

A massive gathering of thousands of Hindu farmers on September 7 was also allowed; on the way home, farmers were attacked with swords and knives; retaliatory killings followed for 48 hours.