Opposition leaders on Saturday condemned the attack on a Muslim family in their home in Gurugram’s Bhondsi on Thursday. The family alleged that the accused had told them to “go to Pakistan” and threatened them to vacate their home.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi claimed the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Bharatiya Janata Party channelise “bigotry and hatred for political power”. “Every Patriotic Indian is disgusted by the video of a family in Gurugram being mercilessly beaten by hooligans...This incident serves as a warning of the dangerous consequences [and] the dark side of that strategy,” he tweeted.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “Hitler also used to do this for power,” Kejriwal said on Twitter. “Hitler’s goons beat up people, murdered them, and the police would register a case against those who were beaten. Modi ji is also getting this done for power, he is walking down Hitler’s path. Are his supporters not able to see where our country is going?”
In a second tweet, Kejriwal asked which religious text endorsed killing of Muslims. “Is it in Gita? In Ramayana? The Hanuman Chalisa?” he asked. “These people are not Hindus, they are goons in the garb of Hindus. Their party is an army of rogues, goons. It is the duty of every Indian to save both the country and the Hindu religion from them.”
Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav condemned the attack, saying what happened to Mohammad Sajid and his family were “beyond imagination”. “Politicians who ruin the brotherhood of the country don’t understand that hate is the kind of poison that will destroy everyone,” he tweeted.
BJP spokesperson for Haryana, Raman Malik, claimed the incident was being given a “communal twist” in view of the elections, reported The Indian Express. He also claimed the police took prompt action. “It is regretful that people in important position and in public life, for ulterior and malafide motives, are trying hard to give it a communal twist in this election season.”
The family has now said that they are thinking of leaving Gurugram. “We are planning to either move back to our village or to Delhi,” Mohammad Sajid told The Indian Express. “If this has happened here once, it can happen again. Even if something like this happens in our village, at least we will have 15-20 people who will stand by us. We are entirely alone here.”
Sajid had moved to Gurugram 15 years back from Panchi village in Uttar Pradesh’s Baghpat district. Sajid said this was the first time that his family had experienced such violence since moving to Gurugram.
Mohammad Dilshad, whose arm was fractured in the violence, said the attack was “unprovoked”. “There are people who are saying we must have said something to them, which is not true,” he said. “We can’t pick a fight with such men — they are more powerful, they have more land.”
Six people have been arrested in connection with the case and police have filed a case for rioting, unlawful assembly, attempt to murder, voluntarily causing hurt, house trespass and criminal intimidation.
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