That’s more than a little ironic, if only because Modi himself has been accused of leaning heavily on beef politics in the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
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Without referring specifically to the killing, Modi said during an election in the eastern state of Bihar that the nation will only prosper “when Hindus and Muslims unite and fight” against poverty instead of against each other. “Only peace and goodwill can take this country forward”.
One such village is Bisara, 50km from the capital New Delhi, where a crowd of assailants broke into Mohammed Akhlaq’s home last Monday night, beat him to death and dragged his body out into the street. There was a strong realisation even in PM Modi’s support base in India that the private armies had gone too far in this case, even as petitions were signed, and pressure built on the social media for the PM to break his silence. “Indian government should respect all the religions and people of the other religions should be given the right to spend their lives according to their will. Prime Minister has always adopted a positive attitude and always responded badly with the good”.
Modi’s party, which came to power in May 2014, wants a nationwide ban on the slaughter of cows, which is prohibited in a few but not all states.
The attack comes as a wider debate rages in Hindu-majority India over hardliners’ intolerance of Muslims and other religious minorities, many of whom eat beef as a source of protein. Since this incident, the police has made several arrests and many people are already under investigation.
Incidents of anti-Muslim violence have fueled concerns as religious intolerance is growing under the Hindu nationalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India is the world’s largest beef exporter, earning over Rs 30,000 crore per year. The recent incident of a Muslim’s murder is clear example of Modi’s anti-Muslim approach.
Dismissing the Prime Minister’s pitch yesterday for communal harmony, he said that while it was very nice of Modi to make such comments, “the Prime Minister has a history and the PM has a party that is behaving in a completely different way, which he doesn’t seem to want to stop”.
The independent lawmaker Abdul Rashid Sheikh was beaten inside region’s lawmaking body immediately after the house met Thursday morning to discuss bills including beef ban.
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Of course, in a subsequent rally in Nawada Modi suddenly played the statesman and appealed for Hindu-Muslim unity and rejection of communalism. Non-vegetarians, especially Muslims – who by default are assumed to consume meat regularly – were characterized as not only barbaric but also less Indian. Akhlaq’s 22-year-old son was seriously injured in the attack and has been in intensive care at a nearby hospital.
