Adityanath sees Bulandshahr violence as 'accident', locals smell conspiracy

In the villages at the eye of the storm, residents struggle to protect themselves from repercussions of the violence

While Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has identified the raising of a mob and the killing of a police inspector as an ‘accident’, nervous locals smell a larger conspiracy.

In the open courtyard of a former village head’s house in Mahaw, a group of Jat farmers’ leaders and village elders sat in a circle on plastic chairs. Visibly agitated, they were discussing the scrutiny that has suddenly fallen on their village.

“They want to turn Bulandshahr into Muzaffarnagar,” a Jat leader told The Wire. “This was an attempt to turn Jats against Muslims.”

He was referring to the 2013 communal rioting in