'Opp using mob violence to defame Modi'

The government on Monday said that lynching issue was being used by the opposition to defame prime minister Narendra Modi.

Even as minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju was replying to a debate on mob lynching to protect cows, Congress staged a walk out as the opposition party said they were not satisfied with the Centre's response.

Rijiju cited statistics to state that governments under opposition parties rule saw more incidents of mob lynching, atrocities against Dalits and communal violence.

He also insisted that the centre cannot assume the responsibility of states to govern on such matters and that home ministry has been instructing to take prompt action against violators of the law.

"The more you raise, the more you get exposed. If allegation raised by you (opposition) had any substance, the BJP would not have won elections," Rijuju commented.

Responding to Congress leader of opposition Mallikarjun Kharge's poser seeking specific actions taken to arrest mob justice, the junior home minister read out instances and arrests made by police in BJP ruled states of Rajasthan, Haryana, Jharkhand and Maharastra to demonstrate that the regime was serious and clear in handling such law and order problems which he described "worst form of crime".

He said Modi has publicly condemned mob lynching and urged the need to take stern action on more than one occasion. But, he took a pot shot at former Prime Minister, hinting at Manmohan Singh, for not even "uttering a word" when such incidents were taking place during the UPA regime.

He accused the opposition of politicising mob lynching and communal violence and its vocal MPs of adopting double standards by remaining silent on instances that took place in their own parties-ruled stated.

He stated, unfortunately, "a trend on atrocities against Dalits was continuing irrespective of parties in power". The MoS cited the example of Uttar Pradesh which he said had witnessed most number of such cases before Yogi government came to power. The trend was visible even during Mayawati and Akhilesh governments.

Similarly, he listed out figures on communal violence. According to the minister, in 2015, UP was the most notorious as far as the communal clashes were concerned followed by Telangana and Karnataka. The next year, while UP continued to be on the top of the list, West Bengal occupied the second slot and Kerala came third.

He said opposition was raising these issues as they are short of ammunition to take on Modi government.

The opposition, he pointed out, has been raking up different debates on "intolerance", "award wapsi" and "freedom of expression" without cutting any ice among people. Before Delhi assembly elections, he said a bogey on church attack was raised but the investigations proved otherwise -- that the places of worship were hit by petty crimes such as theft. "The more you blame us, the more you will end up being blamed," he said targeting at the opposition.

Earlier, TMC leader Sougata Roy sourced a figure to a magazine to highlight that there were 63 incidents of mob violence in the name of cow protection between 2010-2017. "The government keeps saying it wants Congress-free India, I want to ask, do you want to make a Muslim-free India as well," Roy said, inviting protests from treasury benches.