New Delhi // India’s prime minister broke his silence on Wednesday over the lynching of a Muslim man suspected of eating beef, calling it “unfortunate” after criticism over his failure to speak out.
In his first response to an incident that has sparked concern about growing religious intolerance, Narendra Modi accused the opposition of trying to stir up controversy over the incident last month.
Mohammad Akhlaq was dragged from his home and beaten to death over rumours he had eaten beef.
Cows are considered sacred by Hindus, and beef eating has become a highly contentious issue since Mr Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) took power, with several states banning the practice.
The attack in the northern town of Dadri on the outskirts of India’s capital came against a background of growing concern over the influence of Hindu nationalist groups.
Last week one group with ties to the BJP forced the cancellation of a concert by a well-known Pakistani singer in the western city of Mumbai.
"The Dadri incident and refusal to allow the Pakistani singer to hold a concert are unfortunate and unwanted incidents," Mr Modi said in comments published by the Ananda Bazar Patrika daily on Wednesday.
“The BJP has never supported such acts. The opposition is trying to level charges of communalism against the BJP, but in doing so, they are themselves indulging in the politics of polarisation,” he told the Bengali-language daily.
Mr Modi has repeatedly appealed for religious unity in India, but critics say his failure to condemn such attacks is emboldening the Hindu right and encouraging intolerance towards Muslims and other religious minorities.
They are concerned by his failure to slap down prominent BJP members who make potentially inflammatory comments – such as culture minister Mahesh Sharma, who recently dismissed the Dadri killing as an “accident”.
More than 20 writers have returned awards in the last week in protest against Mr Modi’s silence over the killing of the Muslim man and the murder of a secular scholar.
On Tuesday, British-Indian novelist Salman Rushdie said that his silence was giving rise to a new culture of “thuggish violence” in India.
In a Twitter message, the author said he supported the writers during “alarming times for free expression” in India, in a Twitter message on social media.
Political opponents have accused Mr Modi’s party of looking to create religious tension ahead of a key electoral test this month in the populous northern state of Bihar.
On Monday, activists of a junior party in Mr Modi’s coalition doused the head of a think-tank in black ink to protest against the launch of a book by a former Pakistani foreign minister.
* Agence France-Presse and Reuters
