Everyone knows these two stories in Kairana. The ancient one is 120 years old and is about the Hasans and Singhs. The other, a modern tale that’s half real, half exaggerated revolves around the “exodus” of Hindu families from the dry, dusty city in UP barely an hour away from Haryana. The protagonists of both, it so happens, are intricately linked – to each other and to the constituency’s electoral fortunes.
Story number 1 first. Over a century ago, the Singhs and the Hasans – Kairana’s two main political clans – belonged to one Gujjar family under the Kalshyan khap. Then an ancestor broke away and converted to Islam. That’s when trouble began. Their descendants, BJP’s Hukum Singh and Samajwadi Party’s Chaudhary Munawwar Hasan, fought each other in the 1990s. As did their children Mriganka Singh and Nahid Hasan recently, after the death of their fathers.
In the ring today is Ikra Hasan, 30, the London-returned sister of Nahid Hasan. The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) post grad is fighting BJP’s Pradeep Chaudhary for the Kairana Lok Sabha seat. While the 120-year-old feud of her family with the Singhs seems to have gone off-track for now, she’s still in the contest, albeit against a different rival.
“Ikra is our daughter,” said Furqan Siddique, a fruit juice vendor at a crowded market square. “When Nahid was sent to jail on charges he said he wasn’t guilty of, it was Ikra who came from England to do what was needed. She’s been campaigning hard for over two years now and is the most visible face of these polls. She’s winning.” In Feb 2021, Nahid and his mother Tabassum Hasan were charged under relevant sections of the Gangster Act by UP Police. Though he is out on bail, Nahid has largely been absent and is rarely seen at poll rallies and meetings.
In the city with an overwhelming Muslim majority – close to 80% – there are many who swear by Siddique’s prophecy. Munna Khan, who sells readymade garments, said, “She’s young, dedicated and smart. We like her.”
Ikra herself is hopeful. She told TOI on Thursday, “There are no significant challenges (for me) in these elections because it’s evident after interacting with the public that there isn’t any dominant national narrative, unlike what BJP is trying to propagate. Local issues are what matter – and local people.”
This is where the second story, of the “exodus”, must come in. In 2016, Hukum Singh – then BJP’s Kairana MP – released a list of 346 Hindu families who had “migrated due to fear” from the area that year. The “revelation” hit headlines across India and soon snowballed into a major controversy. The storm has abated but the scars remain.
Kairana: 2 epic tales & rise of a doughty daughter
At Teacher’s Colony in Kairana, from where Hindu families were believed to have moved out after putting up their houses for sale, there is little rancour. Sayyam Sharma, who runs RDS coaching centre with 200 students, said, “More pupils are coming in. I’ll have to expand classes. We must bury what’s happened in the past.” Akshit Garg, who owns a grocery store, said he doesn’t remember the scandal. “I don’t want to.”
At the BJP’s campaign office, however, workers milling about said in unison that “no one forgets such a thing”. Shakti Singh, at the centre of the action at the chaupal, proclaimed: “Who brought peace? How can anyone be happy with crime? Why were the Hindu families forced to go? People still ask such questions. Babuji (Hukum Singh) has done so much. Kairana will vote for his legacy.”
Shakti Singh quickly added that the BJP’s sitting MP Chaudhary, though battling accusations of being an “outsider” and of “ignoring” the constituency, is “sailing through”. He beamed: “Please have some laddoo. We are already celebrating.”