Will India become banana republic, asks Owaisi

 Strongly condemning the killing of a man by a mob in Uttar Pradesh over rumours of cow slaughter, MIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday said he wondered if India would become a banana republic and mobocracy replace democracy.

"Attempts made by 'bhakts' of the Sangh Parivar to convert India into a Hindu nation will weaken the country. Democracy will become mobocracy," the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) president told reporters here.

Pointing out that the lynched man's son was serving in the Indian Air Force, the Hyderabad MP wondered what message the Sangh Parivar was giving out. "What do they want to do with our country," he asked.

"Will our democracy become a banana republic. Assuming that one eats beef - though in this case it was proved it was not beef - will a mob make an announcement from a temple and kill himIJ What for are the laws, police and courts. Shut them down," he said.

A mob beat to death 50-year-old Akhlaq and critically injured his 21-year-old son Danish in Dadri village in Greater Noida on Monday night following rumours that his family consumed beef.

Owaisi criticized union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma for allegedly dubbing the incident in his constituency as "misunderstanding". "It was not misunderstanding but a deliberate act to take (human) life," he said.

The MIM MP claimed the local BJP leaders maintained that the lynched man deserved it. "They say if a cow is slaughtered, this will be the punishment. Who are they to say this," asked the MIM leader.

Owaisi dubbed the Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh as "incompetent", which "is sitting silently and doing nothing". 

"The government announced Rs.10 lakh compensation for the bereaved family but what action is it taking against the people who killed him," he asked.