Pehlu Khan was lynched by mob in Alwar in Rajasthan in 2017 for fake allegations of cattle smuggling, remember! Another incident took place in the same town, in same fashion and with same result killing Akbar Khan, aka Rakbar, this Friday. And what do we hear from the Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal is that these lynchings are becoming popular with Premier Narendra Modi’s popularity. Really!
Speaking to the reporters, Meghwal made a bizzarre link on Saturday that there is a link between Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity, elections and cases of mob killings. The Union minister should acknowledge the fact the the popularity of the Modiji is not that popular and connecting the dots of PM’s popularity with mob lynching makes no sense.
Meghwal said, “As Modiji becomes more popular, such incidents will take place. When Bihar elections happened, we had award wapsi… When UP elections came, mob lynching happened. Now 2019 elections are about to take place and again, something will happen. Incidents of intolerance will take place. Because schemes brought by Modi-ji are making a difference at the ground level, this is a reaction.”
The Minister did not stop at this. Instead of taking back his comments, he tried to teach a lesson of history and recalled the time of 1984, reports NDTV. He said, “What happened to the Sikhs in 1984, it was the biggest incident of mob lynching in this country.”
When these comments were made, how can Congress be silent. Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot said, “Killing of people on “suspicion” is sadly becoming a norm in BJP-ruled state.” Questioning the mindset of the government, another Congress leader Priyanka Chaturvedi asked, “Is this how you will protect people those who continue with such hate crimes in the belief that the government will continue to support them?”
Among the details, police have arrested two accused for their alleged involvement in the mob lynching case. Cow vigilantes from Lalawandi village in Rajasthan’s Alwar district on Friday night had attacked Akbar Khan, when he was walking home in Haryana’s Mewat with the two cows, along with his friend Aslam. Though Aslam managed to escape, but Akbar couldn’t and bore the fury of the cow vigilantes.