New Delhi: Ever since the Batla House encounter, Azamgarh has been under the scanner for alleged links with terrorism. Everyone has heard the police version. So now people from the region have booked all 22 coaches of a train and come to Delhi to tell their side of the story.
They came in what is being called the Ulema Express – the special train from Azamagrh that brought more then 4,000 people to the National Capital.
Convener of Ulema Council Maulana Amir Rashadi said, “You do not listen to us there, so we have come here to demand that a judicial enquiry be ordered in the Batla House encounter case.”
The contingent of people from over 100 villages was lead by this ulema who has been unforgiving in his attacks on the political leadership.
“Amar Singh declares Rs 10 lakh for Shri MC Sharma and then wants an enquiry in the case also. He should not hang in the middle like this,” Rashadi said.
In a move that could hurt so-called secular parties in eastern UP, the Ulema Council announced that they will be fielding their own candidates in the upcoming General Election. The rallying theme being the vilification of Azamgarh.
“Azamgarh in not ataankgarh (the land of terrorism), it’s not a terror hub. The town has higher literacy rate than any other in the region. All this is a conspiracy,” lawyer Imtiyaz Ahmed said.
Meanwhile, a resident of Azmagarh, Shahdab Khan said, “I go to job interviews and I am being ignored because I am from Azamgarh.”
Shrill slogans and angry speeches – it was meant as a warning to the political leadership, but the train from Azamagrh is also the symbol of desperation of a town to fight against the terror tag that continues to haunt its residents.
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