– HYDERABAD
trongly condemning
the killing of a man by
a mob in Uttar Pradesh
over rumors 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 him?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
rumors that his family con-
sumed 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 MIMM.P. claimed the
local BJP leaders maintained
that the lynched man deserved
it. “They say if a cow is slaugh-
tered, this will be the punish-
ment. 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.
– IANS
S
News India Times
October 9, 2015
14
– that’s all you need to know
India
Will India Become A Banana Republic, Asks Owaisi
ByRupam JainNair
– NEW DELHI
A
Hindu mob killed a
Muslimman in India over
rumors that he butchered
a cow, unleashing violence that
police on Sept. 30 blamed on
tension fuelled by politicians
who seek strict protection of an
animal many Hindus consider
sacred.
While many members of
India’s majority Hindu commu-
nity see cows as holy, beef is
widely eaten by Hindus in parts
of the south, as well as by mem-
bers of lower castes and minority
Muslims and Christians.
Tougher measures to safe-
guard cows are often used as a
rallying call by politicians seek-
ing to win Hindu votes, some-
times leading to Hindu-Muslim
riots.
Mohammad Akhlaq, a black-
smith, died after being kicked
and beaten with stones by at
least 10 men in the town of
Dadri, 50 km from the capital,
New Delhi, on Sept. 28.
A larger group had earlier
gathered outside his home,
accusing his family of secretly
eating beef.
“I screamed and shouted to
tell the mob that we did not eat
beef, and they should stop beat-
ing my father and my brother,
but they pushed me away,” his
daughter, Sajida Saifi, who
watched the attack helplessly,
told Reuters.
Akhlaq’s son was taken to
hospital with severe injuries.
The murder triggered clashes
between Hindus and Muslims in
the town, and extra police were
deployed to keep the peace.
The rhetoric about cow pro-
tection had emboldened some
people to act as vigilantes, said
police officer Anurag Kumar,
who is investigating the lynch-
ing. “The incident is shocking,”
he said. “The Hindu mob felt
they had a licence to kill.”
India is the world’s largest
exporter of beef and its fifth
biggest consumer, but Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s gov-
ernment wants a nationwide
ban on cow slaughter and the
beef trade, which is run mostly
by Muslims. It has clamped
down on the illegal trade of cat-
tle with Muslim-majority neigh-
bor Bangladesh, and two states
ruled by Modi’s Bharatiya Janata
Party (BJP) have tightened laws
to protect cows.
Police arrested six of the 30
people accused in Akhlaq’s mur-
der, and sent a sample of meat
from his home for forensic tests
to check if it was beef.
Eating beef is not illegal in
Uttar Pradesh, where Dadri is
located, although the slaughter
of cows is banned.
But even if the family had
been eating beef, that was no
justification for murder, Saifi
said. “I saw my father being
killed and no one came to save
him,” she said. “How can eating
meat or beef become such a big
crime?”
– Reuters
Hindu Mob Lynches Muslim Rumored To Have Killed A Cow
Above, relatives of Mohammad Akhlaq
mourn after he was killed by a mob on
Sept. 28 at his residence in Dadri town,
Uttar Pradesh. Below, a Kashmiri
demonstrator throws a stone towards
police during a protest after Eid al-Adha
prayers in Srinagar, Sept. 25. Hundreds
of demonstrators protested after the
beef ban order by a state court in
Kashmir.
Bigger Conspiracy Behind Killing:
Greater Noida Victim’s Wife
– GREATER NOIDA
T
he killing of a man in a
village here following
rumors that his family
consumed beef was part of a
bigger conspiracy with two
right-wing organizations
operating in the area to
spread communal disharmo-
ny, his widow said on Friday.
A mob beat to death 50-
year-old Akhlaq and critically
injured his 21-year-old son
Danish in Bisara village in
Greater Noida on Monday
night.
Ikram told IANS that while
her husband was returning
home on Eid, some young
boys taunted him as a
“Pakistani” and said they
would not allow a Pakistani
to live in this village and will
repeat a Muzaffarnagar style
incident, referring to the
communal riots in western
Uttar Pradesh in September
2013.
“And suddenly on Monday
midnight, goons barged into
our house and lynched
Akhlaq, accusing him of sac-
rificing a cow. Our family is a
patriotic family... our elder
son is working with the
Indian Air Force while sec-
ond son Danish, who is com-
pleting his graduation this
year, is inclined to join the
Army,” she said.
Intelligence sources
revealed that some activists
of the Pratap Sena and
Samadhan Sena were operat-
ing in the area to woo youth
in the age group of 18 to 25
years and also disturbing
communal harmony.
Circle Officer, Dadri,
Anurag Singh said that some
oral information regarding
the Pratap Sena and
Samadhan Sena has come
from the public.
“No authentic informa-
tion about these organiza-
tions creating trouble came
in black and white,” he
added.
– IANS
