SRINAGAR: India could be faced with another partition if cow vigilantism doesn’t stop, senior PDP leader Muzaffar Hussain Baig has warned. He also called for action to prevent these ‘mistakes that happen every day’.
Baig, the PDP’s Lok Sabha MP from Baramulla raised the spectre of Partition in 1947 while warning against another one. “If the killing of Muslims in the name of cows or buffalos is not stopped the consequences will not be good. There has already been one Partition in 1947,” he said. (Gai aur bhains ke naam par musalmano ka katal bandh karein warna naateje achhe nahi honge. 1947 mein ek partition pehle hi ho chuka hai.)
Baig’s comments came during his speech at a rally in Srinagar to mark the 19th anniversary of the founding of the PDP. He stood by his warning later, in an interview of news agency ANI.
"I said something which was very right. Had I not said it, I would have felt very guilty and cowardly,” he said. “The problem of Kashmir is due to partition. We can't undo the mistake of 1947 but we can do something about mistakes taking place daily," Baig added.
In an incident on July 21, a 28-year-old man was allegedly lynched by a group of people on suspicion that he was smuggling cows in Alwar district of Rajasthan.
Akbar Khan and another man were taking two cows to their village in Haryana through a forest area near Lalawandi when a group of people severely thrashed Khan. The other man accompanying Khan managed to escape.
Khan was rushed to a government hospital where doctors declared him brought dead.
Reacting to the incident, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP of trying to create an atmosphere of "lynching, hatred and violence".
"The BJP is trying to create an atmosphere of Talibans, lynching, hatred and violence. We don't believe in their concept of Hinduism. Those who now rule the country have bloodstains on their hands," she said.
"Everyday people are being lynched. They (BJP) have unleashed religious terrorism. Before lecturing the states to take steps against those involved in lynching they should ask their own leaders to behave," said Banerjee.
The Congress also accused the BJP of transforming the country into a land of lynchings. "The shocking incident in Alwar has once again proved that the BJP is working overtime and aggressively to transform Hindustan into Lynchistan," said Congress spokesperson Jaiveer Shergill.
(with inputs from agencies)
