Four days after the brutal killing of a man following rumours that he consumed beef in Bisara Village in Dadri in Uttar Pradesh, hordes of politicians visited the area either to sympathise with the victim’s family or gain political mileage. The grieving family, which is upset with such “photo-op” visits, has asked the State Government to ensure that they are left alone, even as the village remains tense.
BJP leader and Union Tourism Minister Mahesh Sharma and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi were among those who visited the bereaved family. Soon after Sharma’s visit, the deceased man Ikhlaq’s eldest son Sartaj, who is a technician in the Air Force in Chennai, wrote to the State Government, requesting it to stop political feuds over his father’s death. Sartaj also requested the Government to stop politicians from visiting their house, as the family did not want any photo-ops. Sartaj stated that his family was already under extreme trauma, and the visits by politicians and the political fights were not making matters any easier.
A neighbour of the victim’s family said that they have been continuously pleading with the netas and the media to leave them alone as one family member is still battling for his life in a local hospital. Sharma visited Ikhlaq’s 22-year-old son Danish, who was critically wounded during the assault, at the hospital where he has undergone brain surgery and is on the ventilator.
Sharma sought punishment for those guilty without “victimising” the innocent.
The Samajwadi Party has accused the BJP of deliberately inciting violence ahead of the 2017 Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh as part of its efforts to polarise people, while the BJP has termed it a failure of the State Government to maintain law and order.
Amid communal tension in the region, several contingents of the Provincial Armed Constabulary and State police were strategically deployed across the village where prohibitory orders banning assembly of five or more people continued to be in force.
AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi alleged that the victim was killed because of his religious persuasion. Owaisi attacked both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the State’s Samajwadi Party Government for the incident that has triggered a nation-wide outrage.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav too trained his guns on Modi over a string of controversies over cow slaughter and beef consumption. The Chief Minister said the guilty will not be spared and his Government will act with “full honesty”. Samajwadi Party leader Shivpal Yadav, younger brother of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, demanded dismissal of Sharma from the Union Ministry.
The Congress also demanded that the Prime Minister speak up and condemn the attack. “The Prime Minister tweets on every issue, but has not said a word about the incident. He should break his silence and condemn the incident”, party spokesman RPN Singh said.
While CPI general secretary S Sudhakar Reddy said his party is surprised at Modi’s “silence” on such “irrational and intolerant” killings of innocent people, Trinamool Congress has questioned the Prime Minister’s continued silence on the lynching, with its MP Sultan Ahmed demanding that he make a statement on communal incidents in the country and do something to stop RSS and fringe outfits from disrupting communal harmony.