Union Minister for Minority Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told India Today on Sunday, 21 July that most of the cases of lynching are fake
This was in response to India Today’s question on Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan’s statement of Muslims “serving a sentence” after the Partition.
Khan had said, “If Muslims went to Pakistan, they would not get this punishment. Why our ancestors did not go to Pakistan? They regarded India as their own country. Now they will be punished and they will have to endure,” adding that the Muslims of this country had been living a very “disgusting life”.
Naqvi’s statement’s was criticised by senior Congress leader Randeep Surjewala who accused the BJP of protecting the accused.
Quoting Surjewala, India Today reported, “BJP doesn’t feel anything for the minorities. Everyone in the ruling party is trying to shield the culprits.”
Since 2015, 98 people have been victims of mob lynchings across India. According to Indiaspend, 84% of the victims of lynchings due to cow-related violence were Muslims.
Naqvi isn’t alone when it comes to downplaying cases of mob lynchings.
Recently, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar told The Print that the Saran lynching incident of two tribal men and a Muslim man shouldn’t be viewed as a case of “mob lynching” as three victims “had been caught stealing cattle”.
Kumar told The Print, “It is an unfortunate incident. But it should not be seen as mob lynching. Those killed were Nats (a Scheduled Tribe group) and those who killed them belong to downtrodden classes. The incident occurred when the three were caught red-handed stealing cattle. It resulted in angry villagers beating them up leading to their deaths. It is basically an incident arising due to local development.”
Another minister of the JD(U)-BJP state government said that it was a case of “law and order” since the victims weren’t forced to chant Jai Shri Ram.
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