While alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had turned Rajasthan into a “Hindutva laboratory”, protesters here on Friday demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi break his silence on the brutal murder of a Muslim labourer in Rajsamand by a man motivated by the “ideology of hatred” promoted by the Sangh Parivar outfits.
Civil rights groups staged a demonstration at Gandhi Circle outside Rajasthan University here with the demand for Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s resignation and the Prime Minister’s statement on the “lynching of Muslims” in Rajasthan being reported with regularity since April this year. The murder of labourer Afrazul was the latest, carried out on the 25th anniversary of Babri Masjid demolition, they said.
A protest march was also taken out in Udaipur on Friday afternoon, with the participants demanding death penalty for the accused, Shambhu Lal Raigar, and payment of ₹50 lakh as compensation to the next of kin of Afrazul.
People’s Union for Civil Liberties-Rajasthan (PUCL) president Kavita Srivastava said the culture of hate and violence against Muslims should be stopped as it would very soon “seep into every dimension of our lives and destroy us”.
The organisations which took part in the demonstration included Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, Rajasthan Nagarik Manch, Jan Vichar Manch, Rajasthan Samagra Sewa Sangh, All India Kisan Sabha, Centre for Dalit Rights, and the Jaipur district units of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).
Pradesh Congress president Sachin Pilot, while describing Wednesday's murder as horrific and heart-wrenching, said, “It is absolutely unacceptable the way people are allowed to take law into their hands.”
