Alwar violence sparks war of words in Parliament

Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman asks the government to conduct probe and inform House about the incident.

Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi

Both Houses of Parliament on Thursday witnessed heated exchanges on the alleged killing of a man by ‘gau rakshaks’ (cow vigilantes) at Alwar in Rajasthan, with Congress Rajya Sabha member Madhusudan Mistry demanding the dismissal of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in the State in view of the “breakdown of constitutional machinery.”

Tapan Kumar Sen of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), too, said the constitutional machinery had broken down in the State, seeing the incident as a “clear case of gangsterism.”

However, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi denied that such an incident happened, prompting Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad to cite a report in the

New York Times to claim that the Minister was “ill-informed.”

Mr. Naqvi also cautioned that the House should not be seen as “supporting” cow slaughter.

Give details: Kurien

Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha P.J. Kurien said the government should give details about the incident to the House, as there were conflicting versions.

“To the notice of the Chair, two versions are brought. If the incident has happened, then it is serious. But if the incident has not happened and has been narrated here as if it has happened, that is also serious. Therefore, I would like to know the correct version. I am asking the Minister to convey to the Home Minister the need to inquire into it and report to the House,” he said. In the Lok Sabha, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the Rajasthan government had taken cognisance of the incident, and a police case had been registered.

Expressing concern over the incident, Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said five dairy farmers had bought the cows for ₹ 75,000 and were ferrying them when their vehicle was intercepted by vigilantes in Alwar. He said they were attacked by 200 people, but only four of these had been arrested so far.

Mr. Kharge quoted the State Home Minister as saying that the villagers had got information that cows were being smuggled and while there was nothing wrong in people stopping cow smuggling, they should not take law into their own hands.

Amid interruptions by some BJP members, Mr. Kharge said this was the fifth such incident in Rajasthan, while three were reported in Uttar Pradesh and two each in Gujarat and Haryana. He also named two Hindu organisations, to which Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar raised objection.

Speaker Sumitra Mahajan had by then ordered that the names be expunged.