Janjivan Bureau / New Delhi: Politics over the grisly killing of tailor Kanhaiya Lal in Udaipur continued on Thursday with Union Minister and Jodhpur MP Gajendra Singh Shekhawat releasing a troubling video featuring a section of Muslim minority men issuing open death threats to anyone who “insults the Prophet”.
“Watch out Gehlot ji…your police is standing guard at the back and on the front, these men are issuing death threats,” Shekhawat said in a video that amassed 11,000 hits within half-an-hour of being posted.
The video came hours after Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot met the family of victim Kanhaiya Lal in Dhanmondi, Udaipur, and handed over a cheque of Rs 51 lakh to them.
The CM assured speedy justice in the matter after Yashoda, the victim’s wife, sought death penalty for Riaz Akhtari and Mohammad Ghous, the two men who beheaded Kanhaiya Lal with a cleaver and then gloated about their act on a video.
Meanwhile, Gehlot has issued an appeal to people in the state to “defeat forces that wish to harm communal harmony in Rajasthan.”
Earlier on Thursday, the Hindu organisations of the area demonstrated in a protest of the shocking murder with stone pelting reported during the protest march. The riot police contained the situation.
The entire state is on alert after the murder with prohibitory orders in place all over.
The BJP has accused the Congress Party’s “appeasement politics” for the murder with state unit chief Satish Poonia noting, “the fact that two men executed this horrible crime unfazed by the fear of law speaks volumes about where this state is headed under the Congress rule. No Hindu feels safe here.”
Congress spokesperson Alka Lamba, however, blamed the sentiment of hate on the atmosphere of communal disharmony prevailing in the country and asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to appeal to people for peace.
The BJP government is saying law and order is a state subject and Gehlot can’t escape his responsibility by evading the issue and deflecting it. “Deflection will not help,” Minister Anurag Thakur said.
