Yogi Adityanath: Ban slaughter houses to prevent lynching incidents

Uttar Pardesh Chief Minister Yogi Adiyanath is known for being vocal for his ‘Hindutva’ stance and had re-iterated his views several times in the media. In a latest interview to a national daily, he did the same. Yogi had stated that the main reason for increase in mob lynching incidents is due to the slaughter houses and if they are closed down, these incidents will stop.

Speaking with TOI, Yogi had said that lynching incidents will automatically stop if the slaughter houses are closed down. He also said that these incidents (lynchings) have stopped in Uttar Pradesh after his government came to power. He said, “Had we not closed down illegal slaughter houses in UP, there would have been maximum number of mob lynching in UP. We are happy that no such incident took place here.”

Sharing a similar view which Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh opines, Yogi said that the biggest lynching took place in 1984, reports TOI. He said, “It should be obligatory on every state to crack down on such incidents. However, people should respect each other’s sentiments. The worst case of mob lynching was witnessed in 1984, on the streets of Delhi.”

Perhaps the Chief Minister is forgetting that major lynching incidents are taking place in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states. Be it Pehlu Khan in Rajasthan or Alimuddin Ansari in Jharkhand or Akbar Khan in Rajasthan, all the three major lynching incidents took place in BJP ruled states. And yes, all these people were dairy farmers, barring Alimuddin who was lynched on suspicion of being a child lifter.

Even the recent incidents of mob lynching took place in Tripura and Maharashtra, which too are ruled by BJP. In these two states, the people were attacked by the vigilant groups on allegations of being the child lifter.

So, going by the logic of Yogi to ban slaughter houses for the preventing lynching incidents, how can the cases of Tripura, Maharashtra or Jharkhand be justified? It looks Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has misunderstood the conception about lynching and have made a statement on this.

Whatever be the case, we all have to wait till 2019 Lok Sabha elections, as more such incidents might pop-up from other states as well. Hope Yogi maintains a dairy and the next time we might be able to hear something concrete on the issue, rather than ‘spiritual gyan’ from him.