Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and MoS for Parliamentary Affairs, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi today said that no such incident, as reported in the media, took place in Alwar, Rajasthan. He said this while speaking in the Rajya Sabha after the Congress had cornered the Centre over the hooliganism of gau rakshaks (cow vigilantes).
Two days after he was allegedly attacked by a group of gau rakshaks for transporting cows in Alwar, Pehlu Khan, 55, a resident of Haryana, succumbed to his injuries on April 3.
According to the Rajasthan Police, Pehlu Khan and at least four others were attacked even as they produced documents to show that they had purchased the cows.
Gau rakshaks affiliated to Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal stopped four vehicles, on National Highway 8, on April 1, alleging that they were illegally transporting bovines.
The cow vigilantes then attacked the men in the vehicles and allegedly allowed one of the drivers, Arjun, to leave. The incident came to light when the video of the entire incident went viral on the social media and once again highlighted the hooliganism of these gau rakshaks, who kill anyone in the name of protecting cows.
After much criticism, the Rajasthan Police finally managed to arrest three men in connection with the deadly assault. The police have registered a murder case against six people and 200 unidentified people and have announced a reward of Rs 5,000 for anyone who provides information on the remaining accused in the case.
The incident has once again left everyone shocked, however, what is more shocking is the government’s complete denial over the incident. In the past many such incidents have happened, however, no concrete action is ever taken against these cow vigilantes.
By completely denying such a big incident, is the BJP government giving a clean chit to self-styled cow vigilantes? Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi’s statement has indicated the union government’s patronage for the gau rakshaks.
This is what Naqvi said in Rajya Sabha today:
“Hamare desh mein yeh message nahi jana chahiye ki hum yeh hatya ko samarthan kar raha hai… issliye it is a very sensitive issue.. crore logo ke bhavnao se judha hua mudha hai.. hamara aisa koi message nahi jana chahiye ki hum hatiya ke samarthan mein khade hue hai (This issue is a very sensitive issue. There should be no indication or message that we are backing those who are violent. It’s an emotional issue for crores of people.)
Issliye jis particular state ki barein mein jo baat kar rahe hai, us tarah ki koi bhi ghatna, jis tarah ki ghatna pesh ki ja rahi hai, aise koi ghatna zameen par nahi hui hai. Jis media report ki barein mein bat ki ja rahi hai, us state ki sarkar ne pehle hi condemn kiya hai. (No such incident, as being reported, has taken place on the ground. The media report which are being cited, the concerned state government has already condemned.)”
Video Courtesy: YouTube/News First
Mr Naqvi today conveniently said that no such incident happened! But what about the video of the incident? Leave the video, is the Rajasthan Police wasting its time by arresting people and investigating a case, which never happened? I don’t think so, a place where BJP is in power, the police cannot initiate action if there’s no such case. Something bad happened that day, and if you think that denial is the solution, then we are afraid that such incidents will increase exponentially and a time will come when everything will go out of control.
It’s time that the saffron party look beyond the sinister brand of politics as the way gau rakshaks have been dealing with people, its existence is truly an anathema to any civilized society.
