New Delhi: Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Thursday squarely rejected the allegations of lynching of a Muslim man by cow vigilantes in Alwar and said it was a very sensitive issue, but “no such incident has happened, the way the matter is being presented here.”
Naqvi also added saying “A message should not be sent out that the House supports cow slaughter,” and added that “the state government has refuted (the allegations). We do not justify hooliganism.”
On the other hand, Congress members attacked the BJP in the Lok Sabha over the issue saying the Constitution was being violated in the name of cow protection in the states ruled by the saffron party.
Defending the Rajasthan government, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said it has taken cognisance of the incident and action as per the law would be taken.
Raising the issue during the Zero Hour, leader of Congress Mallikarjun Kharge said five persons were ferrying three cows after buying them for Rs 75000 when their vehicle was stopped by cow vigilantes in Alwar and they were thrashed, leading to the death of one person.
He also targeted the state's home minister for his comments that both sides, the accused and the victims, had done something wrong and there was nothing wrong in people stopping cow smuggling. Kharge said the victims were dairy farmers.
As some BJP members tried to interrupt him, he lashed out in anger saying they must keep quiet as the law was being broken.
This was the fifth such incident in the state, followed by three in Uttar Pradesh since the BJP came to power and two each in Gujarat and Haryana.
Kharge also named some Hindutva organisations linked to the BJP, which were immediately expunged by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said his allegations against the Hindutva bodies were baseless. The Congress leader also said that only four persons were arrested even though the group of attackers had over 200 people.