By IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi, 30 May 2015: Reacting over the IndiaTomorrow.net story What keeps Yogendra Yadav mum on Haryana riot?, Yogendra Yadav, leader of Swaraj Abhiyan, a faction of Aam Aadmi Party, has sent an email to his volunteers clarifying his position on the 25th May incident of Atali village in Faridabad district of Haryana.
Yadav, in his email Friday night, said he ‘decided’ not to make any public statement over the issue for fear of more “attacks on the minorities”, but he wasn’t silent. Since 26th May morning when he came to know about the incident while in Ahmedabad, Yadav said he has been in regular contact with his volunteers in Haryana; he asked some of them including Ramzan Chowdhary (member of National Working Committee of Swaraj Abhiyan) to reach the site and help the victims; he even talked to the police commissioner demanding swift action. Yadav also said that if any media person contacted him seeking his comment over the Haryana riot he offered comment. He also refuted the point about Hindu vote bank politics and in the email he gave a brief about his role in the communal violence at Tauru, also in Haryana, last year.
In his email and also in the telephonic talk to IndiaTomorrow.net Friday midnight, Yadav expressed anger over his version not being taken with the story.
The story carried two factual points:
One; Yadav, who comes from Haryana, did not utter a word publicly over the issue. In his email, Yadav himself admitted that he did not go public over the issue deliberately. “They (Swaraj volunteers) said the media was not reporting this incident in a big way. Wider publicity had the risk of provoking a chain reaction that could lead to further attacks on the minorities. So, Prashant ji and I decided not to go public at that time.”
Two; The Twitter and Facebook page of Yadav – social media handles of active politicians have become their virtual PRO these days – also remained silent over the issue for first four days. Yadav’s pages are open for all to see and check the claims of IndiaTomorrow.net.
Yadav termed the story ‘false’ and ‘mischievous’. IndiaTomorrow.net requested him to point out a single factual error in the story.
Yogendra Yadav’s email to his volunteers over IndiaTomorrow.net story:
Dear friends,
I am amazed and shocked at this kind of irresponsible journalism. I sincerely hope that you would now circulate my response as widely as you have circulated this mischievous report. The simple fact is that we at Swaraj Abhiyan were among the first organisations to react to this incident and did much more than simply issue a routine statement of condemnation. The sequence is events is as follows:
25th: the incident happened in the evening; I was in Ahmedabad where the police had locked our event venue. In the midst of all that no one informed me about it
26th morning: I was still in Ahmedabad when Prashant ji sent me an SMS about this incident and we discussed what should be done. I immediately requested two of our Swaraj Abhiyan colleagues Mr Rakesh Jain and Mr Ramzan Chowdhary (member of our National Working Committee) to rush to the spot and ascertain the facts of the situation. They reached around noon and were there till late evening. Ramzan bhai was with the victims in the thana and Rakesh bhai visited the burnt houses in the village. They gave the factual situation and said that by now the situation was under control; the victims were under police protection. We had request our teams nearby to arrange for food for the victims, but Ramzan bhai reported that it had been arranged locally. They said the media was not reporting this incident in a big way. Wider publicity had the risk of provoking a chain reaction that could lead to further attacks on the minorities. So, Prashant ji and I decided not to go public at that time.
27th: we had a daylong meeting on our Kisan abhiyan in NOIDA. Ramzan bhai came for it and reported that the situation was returning to normal. We discussed about setting up our first Aman Committee, something we want to do all over the country, in this village. In the evening I got calls from our volunteers saying that another set of families have been attacked. I requested Ramzan bhai to check this fact. He verified that it was indeed true and I immediately spoke to the Commissioner of Police, Mr Subhash Yadav, to register my concern and demand swift action.
28th: By now the incident was being reported in the media. Mohd Naushad Khan of Radiance Viewsweekly asked me for my reaction and this is what I wrote back at 1130 in the morning: “… incidents of this kind are happening all over and often go unreported or unnoticed. This is the fourth of fifth incident of this kind in Haryana since Modi government came to power, the most serious one being in Tauru last year. Modi government claims that there have been no big communal riots since it took over. What has happened is not that communalism has abated, but that its model has shifted. Crowd-sourcing of majority communalism is the new model. Secular politics has to change its strategy to combat this new model of communal violence.”
Is this what you call keeping mum? Why did this news report not even ask me for a reaction before running a story on me? Why does this report not mention my role in the communal violence at Tauru last year? Why does this report not talk about the fact that I travelled there during the curfew and was pushed and abused by RSS workers? Why does this report not talk about what I said on minorities and Mr Modi in Ahmedabad on the 25th itself?
Is this journalism? I leave it for you to judge.
Yours
Yogendra
