Modi breaks silence on Jharkhand lynching, says it pained him

Surjit Kumar Dhal, New Delhi, June 27: Breaking his silence on Jharkhand lynching incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Wednesday said it has pained him and the guilty must be severely punished, but stressed that all kinds of violence in the country, whether in Jharkhand, West Bengal or Kerala, should be treated in the same manner and law should take its course.

Addressing Rajya Sabha, he also spoke on the death of over 130 children this month from Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) or ‘brain fever’ in Bihar, describing it as a matter of “shame” and the “biggest failure” of seven decades that outbreak of such disease continues to kill even after so many years of independence.

In his over an hour long reply to the debate on Motion of Thanks to President’s address, Modi launched a blistering attack on the Congress saying it was sheer arrogance of the grand old party which is unable to accept its defeat and continues to question the mandate of the people by doubting EVMs.

Modi, who received flak from the opposition over his ‘silence’ on the lynching of a Muslim youth in BJP-ruled Jharkhand, said “security of every citizen is our constitutional duty” but the entire state should not be insulted for the incident.

“The lynching in Jharkhand has pained me. It has saddened others too. Guilty should get severest punishment but for this the entire state has been pronounced guilty and everyone put in dock, which is not right,” he said.

A Muslim youth, accused of stealing a motorcycle, was beaten up by a mob and a video showed that he was purportedly made to chant ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Jai Hanuman’ in the Saraikela Kharsawan district of Jharkhand. He later died.

The Prime Minister said some people in Rajya Sabha are calling Jharkhand a hub of lynching. “Is this fair? Why are they insulting a state.”

“None of us have the right to insult the state of Jharkhand,” he said and referred to violence in states ruled by opposition parties.

“All kinds of violence whether in Jharkhand or West Bengal or Kerala should be treated as same and law should take its course,” he said, adding perpetrators of violence should get a lesson that the entire country is one on this issue.

The BJP has been alleging that its workers are being targeted in political violence in TMC-ruled West Bengal and in Kerala, where the Left Democratic Front is in power.           On the death of children in Muzaffarpur district of Bihar where BJP and its ally JDU are in power, he said the Centre is extending all help to the state to fight the problem.

“In modern times, such a situation is a matter of pain as well as shame for all of us,” he said. “This is the biggest failure in last seven decades and we should take it seriously.”

Modi, who had targeted the Congress during his reply in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, accused the opposition party of heaping “insults” on the people of the country by calling their decision to give a thumping majority to the BJP as “a defeat of the country, democracy and farmers”.

The Motion of Thanks to President’s address was passed by Parliament following the Prime Minister’s reply. The Motion was passed by Lok Sabha on Tuesday.