Journalism of Courage
THE CPM Thursday targeted Prime Minster Narendra Modi over the Dadri lynching and asked why Sanjeev Balyan has not been sacked from Union Cabinet despite his “provocative” statements.
“Modiji should answer how Sanjeev Balyan continues to be in the Council of Ministers. Is it possible that he continues to be there despite making such provocative, anti-Constitutional and anti-humanity statement without Modiji’s blessings? Balyan should be sacked immediately,” said CPM Politburo member Brinda Karat. She made the remarks during a press briefing where she along with CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury released a booklet on two years of Modi government.
The remarks came even as Balyan, the Union Minister of State for Agriculture, once again insisted on a probe by either Uttar Pradesh government or the court concerned to find out who all had consumed meat at the house of Mohammad Akhlaq, who was lynched by a mob in Dadri’s Bisara village nine months ago.
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“I said there should be an investigation, as the report is before the court. So it may be by the government or the court,” Balyan told a press conference in Kolkata.
Asked whether more people should be investigated if found that many others had consumed beef there, Balyan said “It is the job of the police, I can only demand a probe. The report has already come before I demanded the probe.”
Meanwhile, Karat said while Prime Minister Modi has told the US Congress that Constitution is his government’s real holy book, ministers like Balyan continue to be in his council of ministers. “It is shameful that such ministers remain in the Cabinet,” she added.
Yechury too targeted PM and said that “besides common man, he (Modi) has blessed all such (communal) incidents… What’s happening in Dadri, no such violence can happen without his blessings.
Recalling how Modi had two years ago bowed before the Parliament House calling it a “temple of democracy”, Yechury said that despite this gesture, BJP leaders made allegedly inflammatory statements. “We had, at that time only, asked for an assurance from him that law of the land will prevail in the country in the wake of (provocative) slogans. It has been two years, he hasn’t given that assurance until now. What does this indicate towards?” he asked. The CPM had earlier asked the Uttar Pradesh government to file a case against Balyan for “inciting communal hatred”.
With PTI inputs
