Mohammad Akhlaq, 50, was dragged from his house on the outskirts of the capital and beaten to death by around 100 people on Monday night over suspicions he had eaten beef – a taboo in the Hindu-majority nation.
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Many ministers in the government are members of an umbrella group, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which is the BJP’s ideological parent.
While the police suspect the role of the little- known Hindu Right outfit, Samadhan Sena, in the killing, reports suggest that this fringe group has been raising a hue and cry over a number of pet Hindutva issues, such as Muslim shops operating in Hindu-inhabited areas and the use of loudspeakers in mosques.
Investigators are also searching for Hindu activists who spread rumours and online posts stating that Akhlaq had stored 6 kg (13 lbs) of beef in his refrigerator. UP produces 37 percent of beef in India, the highest proportion of meat production in any state.
Muslim politicians have also visited the village.
Despite the slaughter of cows being widely banned, India ranks as the world’s top beef exporter thanks to buffalo meat exports, according to a report by the US Department of Agriculture. In recent months, government leaders have advocated a national ban on cowslaughter. Modi has expressed no disapproval towards them.
“This government has set a tone that is threatening, mean-spirited and inimical to freedom”. At least 16 men from Bisara joined a new militant Hindu outfit called the Samadhan Sena (Solution Army) in August.
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Pointing out that a few prosperous Hindus themselves encouraged cow slaughter, Gandhi asked, Who sends all the cows to Australia and other countries where they are slaughtered and whence shoes manufactured from cow-hide are sent back to India? India belongs to all who live here, he argued.
