Srinagar, Aug 12: Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Sunday expressed hope that preventive measures and stern action against the accused reflected Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s recent remarks and thoughts on cases of lynching across the country.
Taking to Twitter, the PDP leader said, “Mob lynching has become the dominant discourse and its near normalisation has marked a new low for democracy in India. I hope the PM’s statement condemning it is followed by concrete steps and punitive punishment against the culprits.
On Saturday, in an exclusive interview to news agency ANI, Modi had said, “Even a single incident is one too many and deeply unfortunate. Everyone should rise above politics to ensure peace and unity in our society. My party and I have spoken in clear words, on multiple occasions against such actions and such a mindset. It is all on record.”
Terming it as “perverse” what he claimed was the Opposition’s attempt to milk incidents of mob lynching for political gains, the PM had said, “It would be a great travesty to reduce these incidents to mere statistics and then indulge in politics over them. That shows a kind of perverse mindset that looks at violence and criminality as something to be milked, instead of unitedly opposing.”
As per data compiled by the Ministry of Home Affairs, 45 persons were killed in 40 cases of mob lynching across nine states between 2014 and March 2018.
Meanwhile, Mehbooba also said she was disappointed by the manner in which the statement in support of Article 35 A was hastily disowned by BJP lawmaker Rajesh Gupta.
In a Tweet, Mehbooba wrote, “Disappointed by the manner in which this particular statement about Article 35 A was hastily disowned. More so, because for the first time it seemed like they had the courage to go beyond considerations of political expediency and party lines.”
Earlier on Saturday Mehbooba had thanked the two BJP lawmakers including Gupta for speaking in support of the continuation of Article 35-A which the latter’s party has been opposing vehemently.
Following Mehbooba’s appreciation, Gupta had disowned the comments and sought an apology from the PDP president.
