Opposition targets govt over lynchings; Cong attacks Modi

The Opposition on Thursday targeted the government over the lynchings, with the Congress accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "creating such an environment" and indulging in "double speak" on the issue.

Congress leader Kapil Sibal, while speaking in the Rajya Sabha on lynchings, alleged that the prime minister was doing nothing to restrain cow vigilantes who, he said, include elements from VHP and Bajrang Dal.

He was participating in a discussion on the 'situation arising out of the reported increase in the incidents of lynching and atrocities on minorities and Dalits across the country' which started on Wednesday.

Sibal said the year 2017 has witnessed maximum murders and the cattle ban had negatively impacted leather industry besides industries like soap and shampoo.

"I am shaken and shattered by the images of grotesque violence and heart-wrenching scenes (which) I have seen on social media and Twitter. We did not see it in the last 50 years," he said.

Targeting the prime minister, he said it was Modi who had "provoked" such sentiments and quoted his three speeches on October 8, 2015, August 6, 2016, and June 29,2017.

Attacking the government, Sharad Yadav JD-(U) said the incidents of lynching were more deadly than killings by Taliban and Afghans.

The government on Thursday asserted that killings in the name of cow "sentiments" was unacceptable and said the state governments should take stern action against those indulging in such violence.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who was speaking on the issue of lynchings in the Rajya Sabha on behalf of ailing Home Minister Rajnath Singh, made it clear that the central government could not be blamed for violence by "some people".