Why is PM Modi silent on Alwar but tweeting grief over Stockholm attack?
It's been a week since a group of Muslim dairy farmers from Mewat, Haryana, were mercilessly beaten up in Alwar, Rajasthan, when they were on their way home from the Jaipur Pashu Mela (livestock fair).
Pehlu Khan, 55-year-old, was lynched so badly that he succumbed to the injuries sustained on that Saturday evening by Monday night, breathing his last in a hospital in Alwar.
Even as the country is grieving, shocked though it is over the newfound normality of cow vigilantes inflicting violence on ordinary Indians, particularly Muslim cattle traders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi remains blissfully unmoved by the tragedies befalling his own countrymen and women.
Yet, he is quick to express grief, we hope sincere, over unforeseen events on foreign shores. PM Modi, for example, wasted no time to tweet his condolence for the Stockholm terror attack which took place on April 7.
We condemn the attack in Stockholm. My thoughts are with the families of the deceased & prayers with those injured. @SwedishPM
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 7, 2017
India stands firmly with the people of Sweden in this hour of grief. @SwedishPM
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 7, 2017
However, when it comes to political violence in India, particularly that carried out by "fringe groups" associated with the Sangh Parivar, such as Bajrang Dal, Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Hindu Yuva Vahini, among others, PM Modi's silence remains deafening and stubbornly so.
The Prime Minister of India condemns the attack in Stockholm. But he doesn't have a word to say about the attack in Alwar. https://t.co/LYrIRW3uEg
— Angiography (@angshukanta) April 7, 2017
Sure enough, in line with the template, PM condemns the Sweden attack but is quiet about Alwar https://t.co/UXn0oMXNnp
— SamSays (@samjawed65) April 7, 2017
Saar, some jihadis killed a poor man while transporting a cow. This incident happened in Alwar de jeneiro, Mexico. Please condemn. https://t.co/ezPlCJleAQ
— kiduva (@kiduva) April 7, 2017
Since no one is being murdered by religious terrorists in india https://t.co/AAUg4kb1Ky
— Hartosh Singh Bal (@HartoshSinghBal) April 7, 2017
Just like he never expressly condemned the violence in Dadri - the heinous episode in western Uttar Pradesh in which 50-year-old Mohammad Akhlaq was beaten to death by a lunch mob over beef rumours - it is likely that PM Modi wouldn't come down harshly on the Alwar murder and lynchings.
@narendramodi @SwedishPM Do you ever stand with your own ? Seems foreign countries have have voted u to power ! India is a shame to the international community! Ty
— Urvashi Chandiramani (@500Urvashi) April 7, 2017
@narendramodi @SwedishPM Last week a Muslim was lynched on suspicion in Alwar, yesterday another Muslim was tied to tree and killed in Jharkhand. No solidarity?
— Uzair Hasan Rizvi (@RizviUzair) April 7, 2017
It isn't a rhetorical stretch to say that the seeds of cow vigilantism were sown by the top leaders of the BJP and the greater Sangh family when they made cow protection into a clarion call to effect communal polarisation to tear apart the highly volatile and sensitive social fabric of the country.
We saw it happening during the 2015 Bihar Assembly polls, and before that in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections 2014, where Modi himself spoke of the "pink revolution", which he wanted to stop.
Please learn to stand with ur own people,those who are getting killed in ur own country in the name of religion.Otherwise,it sounds hollow. https://t.co/OPar81fuxy
— Ashok Swain (@ashoswai) April 7, 2017
This strategy of constant electioneering and keeping the communal cauldron burning has resulted in gau rakshaks running amok, targeting Muslims and Dalits with reckless abandon all over the country.
Not just PM Modi, even Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje, who has remained mum on the gruesome and utterly reprehensible Alwar incident, has promptly tweeted grief over Stockholm.
My heart goes out to victims of #Stockholm terror attack. We stand with the people of #Sweden in this difficult time. #UniteAgainstTerror
— Vasundhara Raje (@VasundharaBJP) April 7, 2017
@VasundharaBJP Any thoughts about Alwar, ma'am?
— Salil Tripathi (@saliltripathi) April 8, 2017
Jaipur to Stockholm = 5600 km. Jaipur to Alwar = 150 km. #GauRakshaks https://t.co/CAlUtenewl
— Dhrubo Jyoti (@dhrubo127) April 8, 2017
Any thoughts on #Alwar, honourable CM?https://t.co/aiLG5Olz9D
— Lord Meow (@RanjibMazumder) April 8, 2017
It is distressing that the disconnected leaders running this country do not know how to and don't think it necessary to stand with their aggrieved and discriminated fellow citizens, while tweeting customary condolences over every foreign tragedy.
There are human sentiments associated with humans, hence human slaughter shouldn't be allowed in India. Period. https://t.co/rxrUeHreIU
— Mitali Saran (@mitalisaran) April 7, 2017
In a country where manslaughter is second to religion-directed dogmatic "love" for an animal, even as it is neglected and left to fend for itself in the mushrooming but unkempt gaushalas all around, we have elected representatives who do virtually nothing to douse the communal fires that are burning with ever greater intensity.
Unfortunately, it's hardly statesmanly, dear prime minister. To side with your own people at all times is the true test of being a leader.