Dadri lynching over meat sparks furious debate

Unleashing a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Friday said that those who spoke against the “pink revolution” should ban beef exports as they were now in power, and alleged that they wanted to disturb the “secular” ethos of the country by raising such issues.

Amidst the outrage over lynching of a man in the UP’s Dadri town after villagers accused him and his family of consuming beef, Yadav said that “our religion and our country allows people to live the way they want and respects their rights”.

“A rumour does not have anything in it but a lot can happen because of it. Our Constitution is based on Secularism. Our schemes are all based on this principle but some forces want to vitiate the atmosphere. They want to rake up such issues.” 

“These forces talked about pink revolution. We will say today - you form the government now, so ban beef exports. You should build support for banning their export,” he said in an oblique reference to Modi.

Without naming the Prime Minister, Yadav said that those who are marketing the country abroad should consider what kind of food is eaten by the people there. 

“The world where you are roaming, marketing and promoting your country, just think once what kind of food they eat from dawn to dusk. That’s why we should not interfere in each others’ ways of life,” he added.

Meanwhile, Union Minister Mahesh Sharma said parties should refrain from playing politics by giving a communal colour to the incident and there should be an impartial probe by CBI or the state to punish the guilty. Sharma, who is also the local MP, visited the family of deceased Iqlakh and stuck to his stand that it was an “accident”. 

The BJP leader visited the family soon after AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi met them. The MP from Hyderabad alleged that the man was targeted for his religion as part of a “pre-planned” conspiracy.

“This wasn’t an attack over meat. He has been killed in the name of religion. This is a pre-planned, cold-blooded killing. It cannot be an accident.” 

Attacking Sharma he said, “Mahesh Sharma is the Culture Minister of the country and it is unfortunate that the Minister who has taken oath on the Constitution doesn’t have the courage and intellectual honesty to condemn the incident unconditionally,” said Owaisi.

On the other hand, Sharma said, “It is a blot on our culture and such incidents do not have a place in a civilised society. If somebody says it was pre-planned, I don’t agree with it.” It is an accident and investigation should be done by the CBI or the state and the guilty should be punished.” 

Questioning Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s silence on the recent killing of a man at Dadri over 

rumours that he had eaten beef, Trinamool Congress MP Sultan Ahmed on Friday said that the PM should make a statement on “communal” incidents in the country to stop RSS and other outfits from disrupting communal harmony.