In a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad on Sunday said e will not understand the pain of losing children because he doesn’t have them.
Demanding a complete ban on cow slaughter across the country, Azad demanded the PM to declare cow as the national animal.
“I request PM Modi to declare cow the national animal and ban cow slaughter across the country. Why is cow slaughter still allowed in some BJP-ruled states? PM Modi does not understand the pain of losing children (to violence linked to alleged slaughtering of cattle) as he does not have any of his own. Half the ministers in his cabinet also don’t have children and that is why they don’t understand the pain of losing a son, father or husband to violence of such kind,” Chandrashekhar said while speaking via Facebook Live.
He also referred to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and Bajrang Dal as ‘terrorist organisations’.
“These groups are trying to break the cultural fabric of the country. Baba Saheb had banned such organisations in 1956 but later the bans were lifted,” he said.
On December 3, a mob of some 400 people rampaged through a village in Bulandshahr apparently after cow carcasses were found in a jungle nearby. During the violence, Inspector Subodh Kumar Singh and a 20-year-old man died of gunshot wounds.
Singh and his team had gone to the area to tackle the violence when they came under attack by the mob.
On Saturday, the UP government transferred Bulandshahr SSP Krishna Bahadur Singh to the DGP office in Lucknow. Kumar had said the senior superintendent of police will be replaced by Sitapur SP Prabhakar Chaudhary.
The government has transferred two other policemen of Bulandshahr district — Circle Officer of Syana area Satya Prakash Sharma and Chingravati police chowki in-charge Suresh Kumar.
Additional Director General, Intelligence, SB Shiradkar submitted a report on the violence Friday. The transfers are understood to be in line with the findings of the report on police handling of the situation.
Inspector Singh, who died in the mob violence, was the investigating officer of the Dadri lynching case from September 28, 2015 to November 9, 2015. However, the chargesheet was filed by a different IO in March, 2016.
Police have arrested nine accused in the Bulandshahr case but the main conspirator, Yogesh Raj, the district convener of Bajrang Dal, is on the run. In a video that surfaced online on Wednesday, Raj had claimed innocence.
Another inquiry by a government-constituted SIT is underway, and the team is going into the details and video footage of the incident, an official said.
Also, a magisterial probe has been ordered by the government.
The Uttar Pradesh government has been severely criticised by opposition leaders over law and order and for its handling of the situation after the violence.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday said the violence in Bulandshahr was an "accident" and there did not happen any incident of mob lynching in his state. He, however, assured that no one responsible for the violence will be spared.
The Congress has slammed Adityanath's downplaying of the severity of an incident of mob violence and said he has attempted to "derail" the probe in the case.
(With inputs from agencies)
