DADRI/NEW DELHI: Amid mounting tension over lynching of a 50-year-old man following rumors that he and his family had eaten beef, Union Minister Mahesh Sharma today described the incident as “an accident” even as a blame game erupted between BJP and ruling SP over it.
As police intensified security, the distraught family of Iqlakh said they were planning to move out of this Uttar Pradesh village in Greater Noida, apprehending more attacks on it.
“This (incident) should be considered an accident without giving any communal color to it,” Union Minister Sharma, who is the MP from the area, told reporters in Delhi, adding “I feel this incident occurred due to some misunderstanding and the law should truthfully act against whoever is responsible for it.”
Iqlakh was beaten to death and his 22-year-old son Danish was critically injured by a 200-strong mob which barged into their house on Monday night following rumors that the family had consumed beef. Cow slaughter is banned in Uttar Pradesh.
With tension gripping the area, the ruling Samajwadi Party hit out at BJP over Iqlakh’s killing, accusing it of deliberately inciting violence ahead of 2017 assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh as part of efforts to polarize voters.
“BJP has been inciting large scale violence in UP ahead of the assembly polls. Such incidents are repeating after the Muzaffarnagar violence,” said State cabinet Minister Azam Khan.
Reacting to SP leader’s charge, BJP MP Yogi Adityanath said the UP government was responsible for “jungle-raj” in the state. “Jungle-raj prevails in UP and the government backs the professional criminals and mafia to hide its failure. There is a complete anarchy in the state.”
The Congress, on its part, accused BJP of making UP a “communal lab” to gain electoral mileage. “UP has been made a communal lab by BJP so that they can enhance their vote bank.
The PM can continue to talk about development but it is extremely evident the real path of BJP is communal hatred,” said Congress leader and former Union minister RPN Singh.
Iqlakh’s son Sartaj, who serves in the Indian Air Force, demanded punishment to the guilty.
“Those arrested murdered my father. I want to know the reason for which they did this to him. They should be punished so that none from the village would dare to do such a deed in future,” he said, adding that his family was contemplating moving out of the village as such incidents could happen any time.
Iqlakh’s wife demanded a CBI inquiry into the incident.
Recalling the incident, she said,” There was a lot of noise and they were banging our doors and abusing us. They entered the house by jumping a wall from the other side. Then they started misbehaving and vandalizing things after which they mercilessly thrashed us.”
Local police said the FIR lodged in the case has no mention of beef and claimed the assailants had forced a local priest to announce on mike that family had beef.
Greater Noida District Magistrate N P Singh said the situation in the area was under control and a magisterial inquiry into the incident had been ordered.
He said peace committees had been set up to cool down tempers in the affected area and that the administration was in touch with the minority community and assured them of full protection.
“Leaders from both communities (Hindu and Muslim) have extended support and promised to maintain communal harmony in their areas,” Singh said. Additional District Magistrate Rajesh Kumar met the victim’s family and assured them of security.
Reacting to the incident, BSP chief Mayawati said the Akhilesh Yadav government was “more to blame” for the lynching incident than the “unruly and criminal elements in BJP and RSS”.
“More than the anarchic and criminal elements in BJP-RSS, it is the Akhilesh Yadav government which is to be blamed…not just in Dadri, but at other places too. People are out to spoil the atmosphere yet the government is not taking action against them,” she said.
AAP leader Ashutosh claimed police probe “clearly showed” that BJP was behind the incident and demanded Sharma’s sacking from the Union Ministry.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) president Asaduddin Owaisi termed the incident as a “dark spot in our democracy”.
“A person was killed on the basis of false claims for keeping beef at his home. It raises questions on our democracy. It has been proved that it was not beef but if even it was, how can a mob enter someone’s house and brutally murder a person,” he said.
Condemning the incident, CPI-M’s Brinda Karat called it a “well planned” incident. “This is just a result of so called Pink revolution that Prime Minister had mentioned before general elections. It was not a sudden incident, it was very well planned.” –PTI
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