The Opposition on Thursday slammed the Government in Parliament over the alleged murder of a person in Alwar, Rajasthan reportedly by a mob of ‘gau rakshaks’ (cow vigilantes) and claimed “breakdown of law and order machinery apart from “violation of constitution.”
Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the Government has taken cognisance of the incident and law will take its own course. However, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi claimed in the Rajya Sabha no such incident took place on ground and the State Government denied media reports. He later clarified to a private television channel that he was not referring to the Alwar incident.
The Rajya Sabha witnessed sharp exchanges between the ruling combine and the Opposition led by Congress after the issue was raised by one its member Madhusudan Mistry during the Zero Hour.
As the slanging match continued for some time, Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien directed the Government to get the facts from the Home Ministry and come back to the House adding he cannot go by media reports.
Naqvi later clarified that he was not referring to the Alwar incident. “My statement was not in the context of Alwar.... Taking law into your hands is wrong. Strict action will be taken against the guilty... People were trying to link the Rajasthan incident to cases in other States,” he told the channel adding “we will not tolerate violence.”
Raising the issue in the Upper House, Mistry said “anarchy” prevailed in Rajasthan as “a gang of gau rakshaks (cow vigilantes)” stopped a truck carrying cattle and assaulted four of its occupants after letting off the “Hindu” truck driver. One of them succumbed to injuries later and the Congress leader claimed the deceased was a dairy farm owner and he even tried to show receipt for purchase of cow but the mob did not relent.
As members of other Opposition parties supported him, Mistry said similar incidents were taking place in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat as also Uttar Pradesh, all ruled by BJP. The accusation was countered by the treasury benches besides Naqvi.
Maintaining that it was a sensitive issue, the Minister said no such incident has happened, the way the matter is being presented here. He also said “a message should not be sent out that the House supports cow slaughter,” adding “the State Government has refuted (the allegations). We do not justify hooliganism.”
Reacting to this denial, leader of Oppositon and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said he was “extremely sorry that the minister is so ill-informed.” Azad said even The New York Times has reported (on it) and “the Minister does not know...I have not come across such an insensitive Government.”
As treasury and Opposition benches traded charges, Kurien said he cannot go by newspaper reports.
Stating that two versions of the incident were brought before him, the Chair, however, said if such an incident has happened, then it is a serious matter and if it has not happened and has been said in the House, then too it is a serious matter.
In the lok Sabha too, Congress members attacked the BJP over the alleged lynching saying Constitution was being violated in the name of cow protection in the States ruled by the saffron party. Defending the Rajasthan Government, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said it has taken cognisance of the incident and action as per the law would be taken.
Raising the issue, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge targeted the State’s Home Minister for his comments that both sides, the accused and the victims, had done something wrong and there was nothing wrong in people stopping cow smuggling.
As some BJP members tried to interrupt Kharge, he lashed out saying they must keep quiet as the law was being broken. This was the fifth such incident in the State, followed by three in Uttar Pradesh since the BJP came to power and two each in Gujarat and Haryana, he said. Kharge also named some Hindutva organisations linked to the BJP, which were immediately expunged by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.