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Don't give communal twist to cow vigilantism: Govt to Oppn

A day after Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati tendered her resignation as a Rajya Sabha member after being asked to cut short her speech on the attacks on Dalits, the face-off between the government and Opposition continued even on Wednesday over mob lynching and the agrarian crisis.
However, taking on the Congress, the government asked Opposition leaders not to give a communal colour to crimes by cow vigilantes. "These are purely incidents of crime and one should not turn them into communal ones. If you give a communal colour to such heinous crimes, it will only serve the purpose of criminals who want these incidents to be associated with religion," said Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi in the Rajya Sabha.
The opposition members, including leaders of Trinamool Congress (TMC), Left, Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), staged a walkout in the Lok Sabha over the discussion on farmers' plight and suicides. However, the Upper House witnessed noisy scenes over the issue of killings in the name of cow protection after the government said the states have all the powers to deal with such incidents and there was no need to change the existing law.
Following the rejection of adjournment motion over farmers' plight by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, the Opposition members engaged in a war of words with government and then staged a walkout. Mahajan rejected the opposition's demand as the discussion on farmers' plight was listed in the business under rule 193 of the House proceedings. Opposition members returned back to the House after the debate re-started.
During the discussion, the government made it clear that the Centre has taken serious cognizance of the matter related to mob-lynching in the name of cow protection and sought information from states.
"I don't think there is a need to bring changes in the law," Minister of State for Home affairs Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said when asked by Congress member Digvijaya Singh if the government intended to bring changes in the existing law to curb such violence.
TMC member Sukhendu Shekhar Roy asked why was the NCRB not maintaining separate data on lynchings in name of cow protection. As members expressed dissatisfaction over the Minister's reply, the SP members entered the Well saying they have not received an answer to their question and protested raising slogans like "killings in the name of cow protectionism will not be allowed".
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