Govt says zero tolerance for Dadri-like violence
NEW DELHI: The Union home ministry issued a rare advisory on Monday asking states to deal strictly with elements trying to weaken the country’s secular fabric, following days of widespread outrage against a mob lynching in Uttar Pradesh over rumours of beef consumption.
The strongly-worded statement came amid mounting Opposition pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak out against the violence after several BJP legislators appeared to side with the accused in the crime in Bisada village, merely 35 km from Delhi.
“There is zero tolerance for any attempt to weaken the secular fabric of the nation and/or exploiting religious emotions or sentiments,” the statement, uncommon for state-specific incidents, said.
The advisory said though law and order was a state subject, the ministry was concerned about incidents with communal overtones across the country, including the Bisada lynching.
“The strongly-worded statement is clearly to show the government will not go soft on any incident of communal nature,” said an official.
The statements came amid simmering sectarian tensions in Greater Noida’s Bisada village and opposition parties, including the Congress, Samajwadi Party, Aam Aadmi Party and the Left, gunning for the PM. Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad even compared Modi to the blind king in the Mahabharata, Dhritarashtra.
“He (the PM) is not only blind but also deaf and dumb and a coward,” Prasad said at a poll rally in Bihar. “This Dhritarshtra is a coward from inside. He shouts only as a show off. When there is a need to speak he observes silence and sits hiding somewhere.”
An online poll by HT found 61% of the respondents saying the PM should make a statement while 37.5% disagreed. A total of 2,474 people had voted by 8.30pm.
The angry reactions came a week after a group of around 200 beat 55-year-old Mohammad Ikhlaq to death, leaving his son critically injured, following rumours that the family had slaughtered a calf and consumed beef. Amid increased political wrangling, minority affairs minister Najma Heptullah said those responsible should be “punished”.
“No destructive agenda will be allowed to dominate the agenda of development. We will not allow it. We have only one commitment -- peace and prosperity should be maintained,” said her deputy, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.
But the Congress spokesman in Uttar Pradesh, SP Srivastava, questioned Modi’s silence, saying the PM and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had exposed their stand on the issue. “Collusion between parties in the state and Centre? What is happening is quite dangerous. PM’s silence almost a tacit approval,” Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted. UP minister Azam Khan threatened to report the communal incidents to the United Nations while AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence: “This mother has seen her son getting beaten to death in front of her. Where are his (the PM’s) condolences?”
CPI(M) leader Md. Salim also alleged the incident was aimed to flare up communal tensions ahead of the Bihar polls.