New Delhi, Jun 29, 2022, TRIPURATIMES Desk
New Delhi, Jun 29 : The horrific killing of tailor Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur took a political hue Wednesday with the BJP accusing the Congress government in Rajasthan of encouraging terrorists, and the ruling party retorting that the Ashok Gehlot government was aware of its "raj dharma".
In a related development, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) registered a case under the anti-terror Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in connection with the "heinous murder" of the tailor, who
was "beheaded" by two men, identified as Riaz Akhtari and Ghouse Mohammad, with a cleaver in Udaipur city's Dhan Mandi area.
The NIA said the assailants wanted to "strike terror among the masses across the country".
One of the two prime accused has links with the Pakistan-based organisation Dawat-e-Islami and had visited Karachi in 2014, the Rajasthan Police chief said.
The police have detained three more persons in connection with the killing, Director General of Police (DGP) M L Lather said at a press conference here.
Union minister Anurag Thakur slammed the Ashok Gehlot dispensation in Rajasthan over the shocking incident, saying the Congress government remained a "mute spectator" as the party's "internal rivalries" took a toll on the state's law and order.
The information and broadcasting minister was responding to remarks by the Rajasthan CM that the prime minister and home minister should address the nation over the "growing" communal tension in the country.
Thakur said law and order is a state subject and alleged the chief minister has always "shirked responsibility". "This is not the first example. There are several examples where incidents have happened but this time all limits were crossed. It is highly condemnable," Thakur told reporters.
BJP spokesperson Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore maintained that the killing of the tailor was not merely a murder but a "terror attack" and held the Congress government in Rajasthan responsible for the grisly crime .
He claimed that terror outfits are flourishing in the state due to its appeasement policy towards a particular community.
Killers filmed his murder and made the video viral to terrorise the country, he said, calling it a terror attack.
In a video clip, Akhtari declared that they had "beheaded" the man and went on to threaten Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying their knife will get him as well. Indirectly, the assailants also referred to Nupur Sharma.
"Kanhaiya Lal's throat was slit in a terror attack. There is outrage across the country, and a feeling of insecurity has hit the common man," Rathore said, asking people to maintain peace and harmony. Their anger is justified, he said.
Not a week has gone by when some "jihadi" incident has not happened in the state, he told a press conference.
Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Wednesday condemned the brutal murder of the tailor and said perpetrators of "Talibani barbarism" are the biggest enemies of both Islam and humanity.
No community or country can tolerate such barbarism and brutality, Naqvi told reporters here.
Rubbishing the BJP's charge of appeasement, the Congress asserted the Gehlot government in Rajasthan was aware of its "raj dharma" and said action in the brutal killing of a tailor would be taken in accordance with law, unaffected by the religion or caste of those involved.
Responding to questions over the killing, Congress' media department head Pawan Khera told a press conference here the party condemns the incident and said the Gehlot government had acted swiftly in the matter.
"The Ashok Gehlot government got the accused arrested within six hours. An all-party meeting has been called in the evening. This whole matter has been fast-tracked. On the basis of what came up during the probe, Ashok Gehlot has assured all help to the NIA," Khera said.
"With the atmosphere being vitiated in the entire country for the last two months, Ashok Gehlot has been urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah that they address the country, take steps to stop the spread of hatred in the society, and appeal for maintaining peace," he said.
Meanwhile, prominent Muslim organisations condemned the brutal killing of the tailor, calling it "un-Islamic" and asserting that no person has the right to take law into one's hands.
Bodies like All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind issued statements condemning the murder of Kanhaiya Lal by two men who had posted videos online that claimed they were avenging an insult to Islam.
Delhi Jama Masjid Shahi Imam Syed Ahmed Bukhari called the killing an "act of cowardice" and "an act against Islam".
Islam is a religion of "peace and tranquillity," he said.
In Udaipur, Kanhaiya Lal was cremated in the presence of a large number of people even as curfew remained clamped in parts of the city. A large number of people gathered at Lal's home and raised slogans after his body was handed over to family members after postmortem.
Soon after, the funeral procession was taken out and more people on motorcycles and cars joined along the way, shouting slogans like 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' and 'Kanhaiya Hum Sharminda Hain Tere Katil Jinda Hain', while some carried saffron flags.
Lal's killing triggered stray cases of violence in Udaipur, prompting authorities to impose curfew in seven police station areas of the city and suspend mobile internet services across all 33 districts of the state, officials said.