Union Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Sanjeev Kumar Balyan on Monday said the migration issue in Uttar Pradesh’s Kairana town was because of a law and order problem. He added that not only Hindus, but a few Muslim families have also moved out of the town for the same reason.

“It is a law and order issue and the problem should not be connected with communalism. It is better to look at it from that angle. As per my information, it is not only Hindus, there has been some migration of Muslims also,” said the Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Muzaffarnagar.

He claimed he had gathered this information from the BJP fact-finding team that had visited Kairana last week to assess the situation. BJP MP Sangeet Som on Friday gave a 15-day ultimatum to the Uttar Pradesh government to bring back those who have allegedly left Kairana.

State BJP president Keshav Prasad Maurya said the party wants the migrated families to be rehabilitated, given compensation and assured of a safe environment. He had earlier met Governor Ram Naik and demanded a CBI probe into the “exodus”.

On June 13, BJP MP and Muzaffarnagar riots accused Hukum Singh had claimed that a total of 346 families were forced to leave the town because of threats and extortion by “a particular community”, a veiled reference to Muslims in the area. He had later claimed it was not a communal issue. Uttar Pradesh will go to polls next year.