In troubled Kairana, a peace march photo goes viral – Hindu, Muslim, Jain religious leaders walk holding hands

June 15, 2016, NewsCrunch

The day BJP’s fact finding committee visited Kairana, a photo showing a peace march of different religious leaders in the village, went viral.

The photo shows a crowd of peace marchers following Hindu, Muslim and Jain religious leaders. There are two Hindu swamijis, a Jain monk and a Muslim maulvi all walking holding hands.

The peace march, which reportedly took place on Tuesday, was poorly covered by the media though Amar Ujala took note of it. Many hailed the photo as a sign of religious harmony in Kairana.

The photo, which was buzzing through the day, picked up pace and went viral in the afternoon, following reports of BJP’s fact finding committee visiting the troubled village.

Kairana has been on the boil after the local MP Hukum Singh compiled a list of Hindu families which had allegedly left the village due to communal tension. The list was challenged by both media and local officials as inaccurate prompting him to make a retreat on Tuesday.

But the fact finding committee, which had been announced by BJP president Amit Shah earlier, went ahead with their programme and spoke to a few Hindu families and local officials on the issue of forced migration.

Critics of BJP allege that the party is raking up a controversy in Kairana to polarise voters ahead of the crucial UP elections.