A day after a 16-year old boy was allegedly beaten by unidentified men for wearing a traditional skull cap and refusing to chant "Jai Shri Ram,” All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday, 30 June claimed that organisations linked to the Sangh Parivar are behind such attacks on minorities including Dalits and Muslims.
“People are being beaten up if they do not say ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Vande Mataram.’ These incidents are not going to stop. Only Muslims and Dalits are being targeted. There are organisations behind such incidents and all of them are linked to the Sangh Parivar,” ANI quoted the Hyderabad MP as saying.
Owaisi remarks also appeared to be a response to Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi who on 29 June said incidents of lynching should not be given a communal colour or politicised.
"Lynching is a criminal subject. It should not be give a communal colour. It is highly condemnable and no one should politicise it," the Minority Affairs Minister had told PTI on the subject of Jharkhand lynching that took place on 18 June.
Multiple Attacks on Minority Communities
BJP at the Centre has been facing severe criticism from Opposition parties for multiple attacks on Muslims across India.
On 28 June, a 16-year-old Muslim boy was allegedly beaten by unidentified men in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh for wearing a traditional skull cap and refusing to chant "Jai Shri Ram.”
The incident occurred after the minor boy allegedly overtook the vehicle of three or four unidentified motorcyclists a few hundred meters from his house in Kidwai Nagar, police told PTI.
Moreover, a 24-year-old man in Jharkhand was allegedly beaten for hours on suspicion of stealing a motorcycle and was seen in a purported video being forced to chant "Jai Shri Ram" and "Jai Hanuman.”
The incident took place at Saraikela on 18 June. On the Jharkhand incident, Owaisi had also tweeted:
(With inputs from PTI and ANI)
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