More Popular Modi Becomes, More Lynchings Will Occur: Union Min

Arjun Meghwal was reacting to the killing of Akbar Khan in Alwar allegedly on the suspicion of cow smuggling.

Union Minister Arjun Meghwal speaks on the lynching in Alwar.

(Photo: ANI)

A man, identified as Akbar Khan, was beaten to death by a mob allegedly on suspicion of cow smuggling in Rajasthan’s Alwar district on Friday, 20 July, reported ANI. Two persons have been arrested in connection with the violence.

Reacting to the lynching incident, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Union Minister for Water Resources Arjun Meghwal said that this was not a stand-alone incident and called the 1984 Anti-Sikh riots the “biggest mob lynching in the nation’s history.”

Meghwal was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Bikaner constituency in Rajasthan.

Speaking to ANI, Meghwal said that the Alwar lynching incident should be traced back in history.

We condemn mob lynching but this (Alwar lynching) isn’t a single incident. You’ve to trace this back in history. Why does this happen? Who should stop this? What happened with Sikhs in 1984 was the biggest mob lynching in this nation’s history.

Arjun Meghwal, Union Minister

‘It Will Be Something Else in 2019’

The Union minister alleged that the more “popular” Prime Minister Narendra Modi becomes, more such incidents will happen.

The more popular Modiji becomes, the more such incidents will happen. In Bihar election it was ‘award wapsi’, during the UP election it was mob lynching. In 2019 elections it’ll be something else.

Arjun Meghwal, Union Minister

This is not the first instance of lynching in Alwar. The district had witnessed attacks in the name of cow protection earlier as well, with dairy farmer Pehlu Khan being beaten to death by a mob in April 2017.

Relatives of Umar Mohammed, who was found dead on the side of railway tracks in Alwar in November 2017, alleged that he was killed by cow vigilantes, according to Hindustan Times.

Khan’s killing comes four days after the Supreme Court asked the legislature to come up with a law to deal with mob violence and punish those guilty of the same, as a deterrent to future vigilantes. The apex court opined that no citizen should take power into their own hands and that the government must act to prevent the same.