After Rahul Gandhi’s remark on Alwar lynching, BJP calls him ‘merchant of hate’

Congress president Rahul Gandhi had criticised Alwar lynching, saying “people are left to die” in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “brutal New India”.

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday asked Rahul Gandhi to “stop jumping with joy every time a crime happens” after the Congress president attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s slogan ‘New India’ while referring to the alleged police inaction in a lynching case in Rajasthan’s Alwar district.

Finance Minister Piyush Goyal speaks as MoS Finance Shiv Partap Shukla (R) and Finance Secretary Hasmukh Adhia look on during the 28th Meeting of the Goods and Services Tax Council (GST) at Vigyan Bhawan, in New Delhi. (PTI File Photo)

“The state has already assured strict & prompt action. You divide the society in every manner possible for electoral gains & then shed crocodile tears. Enough is Enough. You are a MERCHANT OF HATE,” Union finance minister Piyush Goyal tweeted.

Rakbar Khan, alias Akbar of Kol village in Haryana’s Nuh district, was attacked by alleged cow vigilantes in Ramgarh in Alwar district late on Friday, leading to his death.

The local police came under fire from various quarters after it was reported that they took Khan to the hospital three hours after they found him. The police were also accused of taking Khan to the police station initially and beating him up.

“Policemen in #Alwar took 3 hrs to get a dying Rakbar Khan, the victim of a lynch mob, to a hospital just 6 KM away. Why? They took a tea-break enroute. This is Modi’s brutal “New India” where humanity is replaced with hatred and people are crushed and left to die,” Gandhi had tweeted.

Several people across the country have been lynched by cow vigilantes on suspicion of smuggling bovines for slaughter or possessing beef in the last few years.

A 50-year-old dairy farmer, Pehlu Khan, was also beaten to death by vigilantes suspecting him to be a cow smuggler in Alwar in April last year.