In his first direct comments on the Dadri lynching and opposition to Pakistani ghazal singer Ghulam Ali’s concert in Mumbai by the Shiv Sena, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday described the incidents as “undesirable and unfortunate”. But at the same time, he made it clear that the Central Government headed by him had nothing to do with them.
Maintaining that the BJP too never supported such incidents, a remark also seen as a message to the hawks within the party, Modi in an interview to Bengali daily Anandabazar Patrika accused the Opposition of indulging in “pseudo-secularism” and using minorities as a vote bank by raising the bogey of communalism.
“The Dadri incident or opposition to the Pakistani singer is undesirable and unfortunate. But what is the Central Government’s relation with these incidents,” Modi said.
This is the first time that the Prime Minister has spoken directly on the Dadri incident, where a member of the minority community was killed over rumours of beef-eating, though last week in an election rally he had also made a strong plea that Hindus and Muslims should not fight each other but instead fight poverty. He had also referred to President Pranab Mukherjee’s call for maintaining India’s core values of tolerance and mutual respect.
The Opposition and some leading writers, however, were not impressed. Accusing the PM of having selective amnesia for forgetting that it is the BJP Government which is in power in Maharashtra where Ghulam Ali’s concert was cancelled or Sudheendra Kulkarni’s face was smeared with black paint for refusing to back down from organising ex-Pakistani Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri’s book launch, the Congress said concrete action was needed and not posturing.
For their part, writers Nayantara Sahgal and Shashi Deshpande demanded a strong condemnation of the recent incidents by the PM. On his party’s stand (on such incidents), Modi said, “The BJP never supported such kind of incidents. The Opposition is raising the bogey of communalism against the BJP by bringing up those incidents, but are they themselves not doing politics of polarisation”.
The Prime Minister maintained that those parties were resorting to such propaganda which did not want the development of minorities and looked at them as a vote bank.
He said, “Such a debate has taken place in the past. The BJP always opposed pseudo-secularism. Now again this debate is taking place in the face of unfortunate social malaise. This debate can be resolved through dialogue and discussion."
Making it clear
* Modi in an interview to Bengali daily Anandabazar Patrika accused the Opposition of indulging in ‘pseudo-secularism’ and using minorities as a vote bank by raising the bogey of communalism
* The Opposition is raising the bogey of communalism against the BJP by bringing up those incidents, but are they themselves not doing politics of polarisation, said Modi
* This is the first time that the Prime Minister has spoken directly on the Dadri incident, where a member of the minority community was killed for allegedly eating beef, though last week in an election rally he had also made a strong plea that Hindus and Muslims should not fight each other but instead fight poverty together
* He had also referred to President Pranab Mukherjee's call for maintaining India's core values of tolerance and mutual respect