JOIN USThough Prime Minister Narendra Modi has broken his silence on the Dadri lynching, Opposition parties claimed he had skirted the real issue and not condemned the incident.
Addressing an election rally in Nawada in Bihar, Modi invoked President Pranab Mukherjee’s statement of Wednesday that cautioned against letting India’s core values of diversity and tolerance go away.
The remarks were seen as the prime minister’s response to his critics who were questioning his silence over the lynching of Mohammad Akhlaq in Dadri over rumours that he had consumed cow meat.“The Prime Minister has skirted the real issue. He has not condemned the Dadri incident and those in the BJP who are playing the communal card,” Congress spokesperson R P N Singh said here.
“The prime minister should come forward and speak on it, instead of giving it new twists. Why cant he deplore party MLAs, MPs and office bearers who continue to spread communal venom,” Singh said.
“The Rashtrapati has shown us the way. There is no bigger inspiration than him, let’s follow his path,” Modi had said at the Nawada rally.
The fact that Modi had chosen to echo the President’s remarks was not lost out on Congress leaders. “Thank you President for saying it out loud and showing some in the government, till now silent, the way,” Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi said.
Samajwadi Party spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said Modi should have condemned the Dadri incident more strongly and clearly.
“In a democracy, everyone has the right to speak their mind. But Hindus must decide whether they want to fight Muslims or poverty. Muslims must decide whether they want to fight Hindus or poverty,” Modi said.
Gadkari takes a dig at critics of Modi
Amid a continuing political slugfest over the beef issue, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday that he is thankful that at least the recent stampede in Mecca has not been attributed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, PTI reports New Delhi.
He also sought to dismiss the criticism that the Prime Minister was silent on killing of a man on rumours having eaten beef.
“If he speaks, people ask why did he speak. If he does not speak, people say why did he not speak... What can be done,” Gadkari said.
Replying to a number of queries on the beef controversy at a press conference at Indian Women’s Press Corps (IWPC) here, Gadkari said, “This is not a major political issue. A section of media, a section of leadership takes interest in it. This has been the history of the country.