Former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday attacked the BJP-led Central government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over rising cases of lynching across the country and said that the word ‘lynching’ was unheard of before the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections when BJP came to power and Narendra Modi became the prime minister of the country.
Attacking the prime minister, Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “Before 2014, the word ‘lynching’ was practically unheard of”. The 51-year-old even thanked the prime minister in his post with the hashtag “ThankyouModiji”.
Rahul Gandhi’s scathing attack came amid the buzz over the death of two people in Punjab, a state ruled by his party, who were allegedly lynched by a mob after an alleged sacrilege attempt at the Golden Temple in Amritsar and at a gurdwara in Kapurthala district. The Punjab government has even written to the Centre asking for obtaining presidential assent for two bills passed by the state Assembly in 2018 for ensuring stringent punishment for those involved in desecration incidents.
Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa wrote to Union Home Minister Amit Shah for ensuring assent to the Code of Criminal Procedure (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2018 and the Indian Penal Code (Punjab Amendment) Bill, 2018, which provide for life imprisonment for the sacrilege of holy books. “I want to bring to your notice that sacrilege of holy books is becoming a major issue in Punjab,” his letter reads.
Reacting to Gandhi’s tweet, BJP leader Amit Malviya brought up the 1984 riots after the killing of former India PM Indira Gandhi. Malviya posted a video of former PM Rajiv Gandhi addressing a public rally and accused the Congress ‘blood curdling genocide of Sikhs’.
“Meet Rajiv Gandhi, father of mob lynching, justifying blood curdling genocide of Sikhs. Congress took to streets, raised slogans like ‘khoon ka badla khoon se lenge’, raped women, wrapped burning tyres around necks of Sikh men while dogs gorged on charred bodies dumped in drains”, Malviya tweeted.
Several states – mostly the ones ruled by the BJP like Uttar Pradesh and Assam – have reported incidents of lynching in the past, prompting the Supreme Court to issue advisories to state governments to check such incidents.
Meanwhile, several states including those ruled by BJP like Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Haryana have witnessed incidents of mob lynching in the past few years. The menace also prompted the Supreme Court to interfere and issue advisories to state governments to check lynching incidents. While Rajasthan and Manipur have passed bills to check lynching, other states like Assam are considering a proposal on the same.
Earlier last week, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, in Rajya Sabha, said that there is no separate data on people killed or injured by vigilante groups, mobs or crowds is maintained by the NCRB. He, however, said that the government has undertaken public awareness exercises to curb the menace of mob lynching, adding that the government has also issued advisories to state governments and union territory administrators for taking measures to curb such incidents.
