PM Modi breaks silence, says Dadri lynching, Ghulam Ali incidents 'really sad'

Accusing the Opposition of indulging in pseudo-secularism and politics of polarisation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has described the Dadri lynching incident and the cancellation of Ghulam Ali’s concert in Mumbai as “unfortunate” but said that his government has nothing to do with them.

He also charged that the Opposition was using minorities as vote bank by raising the bogey of communalism.

“The Dadri incident or opposition to Pakistani singer is undesirable and unfortunate. But what is the central government’s relation with these incidents”, Modi told the Bengali daily Ananda Bazar Patrika.

This is the first time that the prime minister has spoken directly on the Dadri incident, where a Muslim man was killed over rumours of beef eating, though last week he had made a strong plea that the Hindus and Muslims should not fight each other but poverty.

He had also referred to the President’s call for maintaining India’s core values of tolerance and mutual respect.

The prime minister had made his remarks last week in an election meeting after coming under attack for his “silence” on the Dadri incident.

On his party’s stand (on such incidents), Modi said, “The Bharatiya Janata Party never supported such kind of incidents. The Opposition is raising the bogey of communalism against BJP bringing those incidents, but are they themselves not doing politics of polarisation.”

He added, “Such debates have taken place in the past. The BJP has always opposed pseudo-secularism. Now again this debate is taking place in the face of unfortunate social malaise.”

“This debate can be resolved through dialogue and discussion,” he believed.     

Modi claimed that the parties who were resorting to such propaganda did not want the development of minorities and looked at them as vote bank.

Meanwhile, stepping up its ante against the government after Narendra Modi termed as “unfortunate” the cancellation of Ghulam Ali’s concert in Mumbai, the Shiv Sena on Wednesday invoked the prime minister’s past saying he “is known and respected due to Godhra and Ahmedabad”.

Sena MP Sanjay Raut termed as “unfortunate” Modi’s views on the cancellation of Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali’s concert.

Modi had in an interview termed as “unfortunate” the Dadri lynching incident and the cancellation of Ghulam Ali’s concert in Mumbai, but said that his government had nothing to do with them.

“If the prime minister has made such a statement (on Ghulam Ali), it is unfortunate,” Raut said.   

“The world knows Narendra Modi due to Godhra and Ahmedabad and we respect him for the same reason. If the same Narendra Modi has called the controversy surrounding Ghulam Ali and (former Pakistan minister) Khurshid Kasuri unfortunate, then it is indeed unfortunate for all of us,” he added.        

Raut, however, seconded Modi’s views on the Dadri lynching and said the incident was “highly unfortunate and it should not have happened”.