‘Ready for CBI probe in Dadri’

NEW DELHI: In a reply to the debate on intolerance, home minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday announced in the Lok Sabha that no one would be spared if they tried to disturb social harmony.

“I want to assure this House, on behalf of myself and the Prime Minister, that if anyone tries to harm social and religious harmony, he will not be spared,” he said.

Singh announced he was ready to order a CBI probe into incidents such as the Dadri lynching where a Muslim was killed on suspicion of beef consumption and the murder of intellectual MM Kalburgi.

He also appealed to the intellectuals who had returned their awards to take them back.

Replying to the two-day long debate in which BJP MPs accused the Opposition of spreading false perception of intolerance, Singh warned that such perceptions would hurt the country’s image and prevent foreign investment.

Speaking after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi accused the PM of maintaining silence over intolerance, the home minister said previous prime ministers had never commented on such incidents in the past.

In the Upper House, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien alleged that the “line separating the fringe and the mainstream was fast blurring” while divisive voices had started speaking up again.

O’Brien also quoted from RSS ideologue MS Golwalkar’s book that allegedly said non-Hindus should leave India.