'Govt keeps mum while lynchings become a norm', Pramod Tiwari

Stating that so far 61 mob attacks, all caused by rumours circulated on social media, have been reported in the country since January, Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said that these lynchings are now becoming the norm of the day. He alleged the government has not yet done anything to ensure law and order in cases as such. "PM Narendra Modi's criminal silence on the growing incidents is deafening," he said.

He said there has been 4.5 times increase in attacks and a twofold rise in deaths due to mob lynching under PM Modi' swatch.

"The responsibility of maintaining law and order is that of the elected government. These growing incidents of violence show that people have lost their faith in the BJP government. The tacit support offered by the BJP to those accused and convicted of such crimes is more than evident when Civil Aviation MoS Jayant Sinha garlanded those convicted in the Ramgarh mob lynching incident, or when MSME MoS Giriraj Singh specially paid a visit in jail to those accused of inciting communal violence, or when MoS Culture & Environment Dr Mahesh Sharma visited the accused in Dadri mob lynching case and went to the extent of draping the coffin of one of the accused with the tricolour," said Tiwari.

Tiwari said that BJP president Amit Shah has also refrained from taking any action on any of these ministers and party members. "Those who stay silent and act as mute spectators, will be considered complicit in these crimes," said Tiwari.

According to data from the National Crime Records Bureau, in Tamil Nadu which is ranked 18th in terms of child abduction numbers, four people have died due to child-lifting rumours, while 12 have been injured. In Rajasthan, ranked 10th, one person has died and another injured. In Odisha, which ranks 13th, one person has died and 15 injured due to these rumours. And in Jharkhand, which ranks 19th, seven people have been injured while two have died.