Washington: India has witnessed a "marked rise" in incidents like the recent Dadri mob lynching since Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power and the government has failed to maintain peace and tranquillity in the country, a top Congress leader has alleged.
Former Cabinet Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who is currently in the US as part of an MPs delegation led by BJD leader Jay Panda, said there was a general sense of insecurity in the country and the government has not taken steps to address the concerns of the citizens.
"In the last 16 months, there has been a very marked rise in incidents taking place like these (Dadri mob lynching) in every single State across the country barring a few and that does give rise to a sense of insecurity in the country, not only for a particular religion or a particular caste, but for every citizen of the country," Scindia said.
He was responding to questions from Indian reporters about the incidents of violence in the country, particularly the recent Dadri mob lynching. "When you talk about Make in India, when you talk about Digital India, when you talk about India Rising, touring 28 countries to market the country, your first responsibility is to make sure that there is a sense of tranquillity and peace internally within the country on which those drivers of growth will then play out," Scindia said.
Referring to a series of such incidents in the past 15-16 months, Scindia said it is incumbent upon any government to speak out unequivocally on any such incident, make sure that there is a time bound implementation of justice being served and that peace and tranquillity across the country prevails. "None of A, B and C according to me have been done by the current government in even close to a satisfactory manner,"
Scindia, who was also accompanied by Gaurav Gogoi from the Indian National Congress, Kalvakuntla Kavitha from TRS, Arpita Ghosh from All India Trinamool Congress, said. He said Prime Minister Modi has spoken in the past only after a number of interruptions and demands by number of MPs in Parliament.
"Should not the head of the government, should not the responsible ministers in the government speak out immediately when such an incident occurred? Why there is delays of a number of days? Because, this does not affect you or me, or five MPs sitting here. It affects 1.25 billion people," Scindia said.
"This strikes at the root of the existence of our country. Everything else is just decoration, weather you talk about growth or investment or exports. This is our core. This shakes us up from inside as a human beings," he added.
Panda, however, said the Prime Minister has spoken at least on two occasions on this issue in which he had a very strong view against such things. "Yes we should do more. But it is not that he has not spoken on it. Modi has spoken twice in the Parliament and condemned previous incidents," he said.
"Beyond the fringe element, beyond the Prime Minister himself, apart from the government, whatever action that needs to be taken, needs to be taken. In the reportage sometimes there is a counter view, that the reportage is not fair and balanced," Panda said.
Citing the incidents of attacks on Churches in the past, Panda said, there were a lot of allegations that many of them were simple burglaries and local issues and not communal in nature.
Gogoi said they (delegation) faced questions on the climate of insecurity and intolerance in India.
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