Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken for the first time on the mob killing of a Muslim in Uttar Pradesh’s Dadri over rumours that he had beef in his house.
“Incidents like Dadri and Ghulam Ali are really sad but what is the role of the Centre in these incidents?” PM Modi has told the newspaper Anandabazar Patrika, adding that the “BJP does not support these incidents.”
The prime minister also accused the opposition of playing “politics of polarization.”
“The BJP has always opposed pseudo secularism,” he said.
On September 28, 52-year-old Mohammad Akhlaq was dragged out of his home by villagers and beaten to death after announcements were made at a local temple about a calf being killed.
Many of the men arrested for the lynching are linked to a local BJP leader.
PM Modi had been criticised by opposition parties for not speaking up on the incident, even as his party men made controversial remarks.
The prime minister and his BJP have also confronted strong condemnation what critics call rising intolerance, following attacks on rationalists and the violent protests by ally Shiv Sena against a concert by legendary Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali and the launch of a book by former Pakistan minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri.