New Delhi: A war of words broke out between the Congress and the BJP on Tuesday over the recent incidents of lynchings in Punjab.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi tweeted, “Before 2014 the word ‘lynching’ was practically unheard of. #ThankYouModiJi.
The remarks came amid a political uproar in Punjab over the lynching of two people on charges of sacrilege in separate incidents.
The BJP immediately attacked the remarks and incited the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, calling former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi the “father of mob lynching”.
#Watch , Congress leader Rahul Gandhi replied when asked about his today’s tweet on ‘lynching’. pic.twitter.com/UUxi3bpSOa
— ANI (@ANI) December 21, 2021
,The biggest example of ‘lynching’ is the incidents after the death of former PM Indira Gandhi in 1984. Rahul Gandhi’s reply to a media question today on ‘lynching’ reminds us of the Emergency era,” Union Minister Anurag Thakur said.
Union Minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey told reporters that hundreds of Sikhs were killed in the 1984 riots, for which some Congress leaders were held responsible. Choubey also referred to the Bhagalpur riots of 1989 and asked whether these were not lynchings.
“The mob killed the Sikhs by burning a tire around their neck. Wasn’t it lynching?” He was quoted by PTI in its report.
Meet Rajiv Gandhi, father of mob lynching: Amit Malviya
Posting a short clip of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s speech, BJP leader Amit Malviya tweeted, “Meet Rajiv Gandhi, the father of mob lynchings justifying the bloodshed of Sikhs. Congress took to the streets, ‘Khoon’ Slogans like ‘Badla Khoon’, ‘Se lenge’, rape of women,Sikhs used to burn tires around men’s necks, while dogs would bite the burnt bodies thrown into the drains.”
Rajiv Gandhi’s remark that the earth trembles when a big tree is felled was seen by critics to justify anti-Sikh violence following the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards.
Malviya also posted about the various riots that took place under Congress rule between 1969 and 1993 to take a dig at Rahul Gandhi.
,