Kairana: Local citizens of Kairana took to the streets on Wednesday to protest against the team of eight Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members who reached Kairana to conduct a probe into the mass exodus issue.

A local expressed anguish over the political party’s involvement into the situation saying, “For years, Hindus and Muslims have been living in harmony. Issue is being raked up due to political reasons only. There is law and order problem in the state and action must be taken against them, but that isn’t the primary reason for people to leave.”

Meanwhile, BJP MP Raghav Lakhanpal, who is one of the eight-members of the team attacked the Akhilesh Yadav government saying that, “We have observed there has been mass exodus of people from Kariana. Principally people are moving due to ‘gunda raj’ in state.”

“We are enquiring. State Government should also come and investigate like us to know the ground reality” he added.

The BJP delegation reached Kairana on Wednesday to investigate whether it was particularly Hindus who were being driven out of their land. They will submit their reports to BJP president Amit Shah after the probe.

There have been allegations which claim that the Hindu community from Kairana village in Shamli district in western Uttar Pradesh was forced to leave their homes by people from another community.

BJP MP Hukum Singh had alleged that 346 Hindu families had left their homes in Kairana over threat of extortion by people from a particular community.

But the locals who are more aware of the situation say that the town constitutes both Hindu and Muslim families. The locals allege that because of two or three murders in the area, some of the residents had decided to abandon the land.

For all the latest National News, download NewsX App