NEW DELHI, July 23 — India’s main opposition Congress party president Rahul Gandhi Monday attacked Prime Minter Narendra Modi over the recent lynching of a Muslim man at the hands of cow vigilantes in western state of Rajasthan.
The fourth generation scion of India’s powerful Nehru-Gandhi clan took to twitter to criticize Modi for alleged police inaction and apathy while dealing with the incident.
“Policemen in Alwar took three hours to get a dying Rakbar Khan, the victim of a lynch mob, to a hospital just six km away. Why? They took a tea-break en route,” writes Gandhi on twitter.
“This is Modi’s brutal ‘New India’ where humanity is replaced with hatred and people are crushed and left to die.”
Gandhi’s tirade was based on a news report that alleged police took three hours to get the dying Alwar lynching victim to a hospital only a few km away.
On Friday night, a 28-year-old Rakbar Khan and another person taking cows on foot were attacked by a group of cow vigilantes near Lalawandi village of Ramgarh in Alwar district, about 175 km east of Jaipur, the capital city of Rajasthan.
Reports said while the other person escaped Khan was mercilessly beaten by the group and later succumbed to his injuries early Saturday in government hospital Alwar.
A senior minister in ruling Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP), Piyush Goyal reacted to Gandhi’s statement, accusing him of dividing society and called him “merchant of hate”.
“Stop jumping with joy every time a crime happens, Mr Rahul Gandhi. The state has already assured strict and prompt action. You divide the society in every manner possible for electoral gains and then shed crocodile tears,” said Goyal in a statement posted on his twitter. “Enough is Enough. You are a merchant of hate.”
Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje has condemned the latest lynching and directed her home minister to initiate speedy investigations to book culprits.
The police have promised a thorough investigation into the incident and alleged delay in reaching the hospital.
The fresh lynching comes four days after India’s Supreme Court terms mob lynchings as “horrendous acts of mobocracy” and said in a democracy, mobocracy can’t be allowed.
The top court urged the Indian parliament to consider enacting a new penal provision to deal with mob violence and provide deterrent punishment to offenders.
There has been an increase in the cases of mob lynching in India either in the name of cow protection or on the rumours of child lifting.
According to the official data between 2014 and March 2018, in 40 cases of mob lynching across country 45 persons were killed. The ministry says 217 persons had been arrested in these cases.
The fresh incident happened hours after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in parliament urged states to take strict actions against those involved in mob lynching. He was responding to the attacks from opposition over government’s inaction in stopping the cases of mob violence.
Last year in two different incidents in Alwar, two Muslims were killed allegedly by cow vigilantes. Ummar Khan, a 42-year-old was shot dead and later his body found on railway tracks. Prior to that a 55-year-old Muslim dairy owner Pehlu Khan was beaten to death. Both of them were attacked on suspicion of cattle smuggling.
The video footage of Khan being lynched triggered a countrywide outrage. Months later, the police gave clean chit to six men Pehlu Khan named as his attackers in his dying declaration inside hospital, saying there was no evidence against them.
Meanwhile, social activist Tehseen Poonawalla has demanded action against local government of Rajasthan for their failure to prevent mob killing.
Poonawalla has approached the apex court, which has agreed to hear his plea on August 20 when the bench will hear other cases of mob killing.
“I have moved to Supreme Court against Rajasthan government on contempt of court with respect to Alwar lynching along with my main matter,” Poonawalla said. “I am hopeful Supreme Court is going to haul up Rajasthan government for contempt.”