Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday said the Dadri lynching was “part of a premeditated strategy of the BJP”
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Akhilesh’s barb was contrary to statements by several BJP leaders, reiterated on Tuesday by party MP from Baghpat Satyapal Singh, who called it a “small incident”.
Akhilesh told a news channel he did not believe Mohammad Akhlaq being beaten to death on accusation of having cow meat was a spontaneous act. “Facts indicate that Dadri was part of a premeditated strategy of the BJP and those affiliated to it,” he said, pointing to preliminary probe conducted by his state.
But, former Mumbai Police commissioner-turned-politician Satyapal Singh said: “As far as a small incident like Dadri is concerned, our country's democratic atmosphere is fully competent to handle it.”
Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma, the first to describe it as a “small incident”, challenged Akhilesh to go public with the case facts. He also said the lynching took place due to the state government's “intelligence failure”.
“It is their government. If it was a conspiracy and premeditated, it was their duty to identify it in advance. And now, if they have identified them, tell it to the nation,” said Sharma.
Though Sharma and other Hindutva leaders have been making statements that opposition believes is meant to polarise, party patriarch L K Advani had raised concern over growing intolerance in the country. On Sunday, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had hinted that the lynching would “damage the BJP or the NDA”, but ruled out RSS involvement in the incident.
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