Kanhaiya Kumar, the Communist Party of India candidate who lost to Bharatiya Janata Party’s Giriraj Singh in Bihar’s Begusarai Lok Sabha seat, has accused the ruling government of inaction in cases of complaints of violence against Dalits and Muslims.
“Recently in Begusarai, one man and woman were hassled and one Muslim vendor was asked to go Pakistan and threatened that he would be shot dead,” Kumar alleged in a Facebook post on Sunday. “Here, culprits have gained courage as the administration does not take action against them.”
A Muslim man was allegedly shot in Bihar’s Begusarai district on Sunday after he was asked his name. The police said a first information report has been lodged, but the accused is yet to be arrested. Mohammed Qasim, who is a salesman, was fired at in Kumbhi village by a man who he identified as Rajiv Yadav. “I was stopped by Rajiv Yadav and he asked me my name...,” Qasim is heard saying in a video shared on social media. “When I told him my name he fired at me and said you should go to Pakistan.”
Kumar said culprits have the audacity to post videos of such violence because of the government’s silent support. “Making a video of your crime is a work that has been created by BJP’s rule in the past few years,” he said. “In the name of cow protection, culture, etc. It is clear that the people who make the video of violence with dalits, Muslims and youth are clear that those who do such crimes are not afraid of punishment. They make a video and glorify their crime because they know that such incidents of violence are supported by the people of their ideology sitting in power.”
He said political leaders silent on such incidents were equally guilty. He warned the government that the youth of Begusarai will not sit silent if such incidents continue. “As long as the criminals will not be caught, we are not going to be sitting on hands,” he warned. “Where there is injustice, our voice will surely be against him.”
Kumar’s comments came two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said minorities have been made to “live in an illusion of fear”. “The way the poor have been cheated, the minorities have been deceived the same way,” Modi said on Saturday in the Central Hall of Parliament after being appointed prime minister for a second term. “It would have been good if their education, their health had been in focus. I expect from you in 2019 that you would be able to make a hole in that deception. We have to earn their trust.” He said parties had made minorities live in fear and exploited them for vote-bank politics.
There has already been two more incidents of violence against people from the minority community since the Lok Sabha election results were announced on Thursday. The Bharatiya Janata Party won 303 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections while the National Democratic Alliance it leads won 353 seats. The Congress won just 52 seats, and the United Progressive Alliance 90 seats.
On May 24, five people thrashed two men and a woman in Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh on the suspicion that they were carrying beef. On Saturday, a Muslim man was allegedly beaten up by a group of men in Gurugram. The 25-year-old was returning to his shop after offering prayers when the group accosted him, and allegedly asked him to remove his skullcap and chant “Bharat Mata ki Jai” and “Jai Shri Ram”.
All India Majlis-e-Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen chief Asaduddin Owaisi has also attacked Modi for his remark. Owaisi said if Modi really cares about minorities, he should stop cow vigilantes from lynching Muslims.
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