Under attack over his speech, Minister of State for HRD in Narendra Modi government Ram Shankar Katheria claimed that he did not target any community in his speech. He is in trouble over his ‘hate speech’ in Agra. Both Houses of the Parliament witnessed repeated disruptions over Katheria’s remarks as proceedings began on Tuesday, a day after the Budget. Katheria has, however, claimed that reports about him making an inflammatory speech in Agra were completely untrue. Katheria, along with BJP MP from Fatehpur Sikri Babu Lal, had recently attended a condolence meeting held for VHP worker Arun Mahaur. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and its offshoot Vishwa Hindu Parishad too condoled and protested against the murder of Arun Kumar Mahaur, Dalit VHP leader, who was shot dead by five men in Mandola area of Agra.
Mahaur, the VHP’s district vice-president, was returning to his furniture shop after offering prayers at a temple near Meer Hussaini crossing when he was shot around 10.30 am. VHP leaders have alleged that local Muslims were behind Mahaur’s murder because he was running a relentless campaign against cow slaughtering.
The victim’s brother had accused Shahrukh, Raja, Dilshad, Imtiyaz and Abid — all belonging to the same area — for the killing. Following the incident, hundreds of VHP, Bajrang Dal and BJP workers had staged a dharna demanding that the accused be arrested without delay. Meanwhile, the state government had announced a financial assistance of Rs. 10 lakh for Mahaur’s family. Akhilesh Yadav government was warned to take a serious note of the incident.
During the meeting, several speakers threatened Muslims of revenge. One of the speakers also reportedly asked the gathering to “corner Muslims and destroy the rakshas (demons). This was termed as the emotional outburst of leaders. They think that this is the conspiracy being hatched against the Hindu community. The hate speakers had told people gathered there to be alert and recognise your strength to show them.
Reacting to Katheria’s remarks, Leader of the Congress party in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, said, BJP speak whenever elections are nearing. They talk about dividing the country and not uniting. If they continue to speak like this, there will be repercussions across the country. Today, we are raising this issue because Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh are silent on the issue. Meanwhile, there are elections in UP, earlier ahead of elections a Muslim man was killed in Dadri and the entire thing went against BJP in Bihar elections. This time, it was Hindu who was killed by Muslim. So, the politicians might be taking advantage to their benefit.
BJP demeaned that the five accused in the murder of VHP leader Arun Mahaur should also be booked under the National Security Act. BJP leader also reiterated the demand of other right wing Hindus parties for Dadri victim-like compensation for the slain leader’s family. He said if the administration fails to meet their demand, they would further intensify their agitation and take their battle to streets for justice to Mahaur. The minister also condemned the lathi-charge on BJP workers at the Collectorate and demanded the withdrawal of the FIR registered against district president Ashok Rana and General Secretary Shyam Bhaduria. He also demanded that action should be taken against police officials who had ordered the lathi-charge on BJP workers while they were “peacefully” protesting Mahaur’s murder.
Communal, Regional & Caste politics bringing disrepute to India across the globe, we are refusing to move beyond Hindu-Muslim hatred. Adding to injury is the biased police, cumbersome grievance redressed system coupled with conservative judiciary left law abiding citizens disappointed. Where we are leading, only god knows? It is very unfortunate that BJP lawmakers are inciting people for violence. The minorities have been brainwashed by the Congress for several decades that Hindus are fascists and communalists. Anybody with common sense can easily understand that this was being done only to perpetuate their corrupt rule. Hindu’s are being brainwashed that if there is no Modi or RSS then their religion will not exist. Even some media is also playing ‘villainous role’ by conveying their personal prejudices. There was no highlights or the news on the murder of the VHP man and did not condemn his killing. This is what bothered right-wingers and whatever was spoken was out of anger. I am not advocating the wrong, but refuse to fall under the trap of religious conditioning and make every issue a random debate and waste people’s time, money by playing with their emotions.
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