Rumour-driven lynching movement under Modi government: Congress
New Delhi, July 2: Blaming the Modi government for launching a "rumour-driven lynching movement" in the country, Congress said "absolute anarchy, mob-frenzy and jungle raj" have become new symbols of Prime Minister Narandra's Modi "New India".
The party said a new spate of lynchings has taken place whereby child-kidnappers have become a new medium of rumour mongering and mob justice and blamed the government of "abetting" in many such cases and giving "political patronage".
It said within the last month or so, nearly 30 Indians have been lynched - five people in Maharashtra's Dhule on Sunday, two earlier in Maharashtra, seven in Jharkhand, four people in Tripura, two people each in Assam, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, and Telangana and one each in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh.
"Absolute anarchy, mob frenzy and jungle raaj have become the new symbols of Modi's 'New India'. There is an unprecedented atmosphere of hate and violence.
"Rumour mongering, state-aided license to kill, decimation of rule of law leading to a 'lynching movement' have shaken our national conscience," said Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
"When the state gives the 'license to kill' with impunity and abdicates its solemn responsibility to uphold the rule of law, resulting in vigilantism, death and merciless killings of innocent lives, then each one of us should castigate it, decry it and question it," he said.
"In the past four years, we have added a new word in our socio-political vocabulary and that phrase is 'lynchings'. Under the Modi government, this new phenomena is getting a definite political patronage.
"What is absolutely reprehensible is that the state has completely abdicated its responsibility in the quest to add fuel to this madness. In many cases it has also assisted, aided and abetted such acts of violence and even justified and condoned them," he added.
Citing incidents of lynchings in Assam's Karbi Anglong, Tripura, Jharkhand and Maharashtra, Singhvi said: "What is most distressing that in case after case - the ministers of BJP-ruled states and its leaders have either been a cause of abetment or flagrantly justified this phenomenon."
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UDF will have huge win in Kerala, NDA won't open its account: Cong leader Satheesan
Kochi (PTI): Senior Congress leader V D Satheesan on Friday expressed confidence in a huge win by the UDF, claiming it will make a clean sweep in five districts, and brushed aside speculations that the NDA will open its account in Kerala.
Satheesan, speaking to reporters here a day after the conclusion of the Assembly polls, praised the performance of the UDF leaders and workers during the election, saying it was the best ever he has seen in the last 30 years.
He said that his claims of the UDF getting over 100 seats is not a mere statement, but based on the work the front has done during the last five years to bring back all those who had left it in 2005 and as a result, there was a huge wave in its favour in the state.
The leader of opposition in the state assembly, who contested from the Paravoor constituency, further said that the Congress-led front also had a major social backing from minorities and marginalised groups in the society.
Besides that, there was an anti-incumbency feeling among the people who were disappointed with the LDF rule, he claimed and said that the UDF provided them with a hope and an alternative which no other opposition had done in the past.
"All these factors will contribute to a huge win for the UDF and it would not be surprising if we make a clean sweep in Malappuram, Wayanad, Ernakulam, Idukki and Pathanamthitta districts. That is a total of 43 seats," he said.
According to him, the polling percentage increased because the UDF got people added to the electoral list.
He also brushed aside the LDF remarks about a woman or youth CM, saying that "they can make such statements now as they know they cannot win".
"Otherwise, why did they campaign with Pinarayi Vijayan as the main factor. Why did they say a third Pinarayi rule will come?" he asked.
He also claimed that the LDF's decision to spend government money on its political campaign, by putting up hoardings and carrying out social media programmes to sway voters, has also backfired as people realised that their taxes were being wasted like that.
Asked whether the NDA will open its account, especially in areas where the UDF claimed the BJP-led front had made a deal with the LDF, Satheesan replied in the negative.
He said that as of now he does not see any chance of the NDA opening its account in the state.
