Post News Network
Nawada (Bihar), Oct 9: In his first comments in the aftermath of the Dadri lynching incident, Prime Minister Narendra Modi invoked President Pranab Mukherjee by saying Hindus and Muslims should come together to fight poverty, but failed to convince Opposition parties who questioned his ‘deafening silence’ on the perpetrators of the violence.
“Hindus and Muslims should work together to fight the common enemy of poverty. I want to tell the people that because of politics and for petty gains, people are making irresponsible statements. I appeal to citizens not to take them seriously. Even if Narendra Modi himself says something like that, don’t listen to him,” said Modi addressing an election rally here.
Referring to President Pranab Mukherjee’s s remarks made Wednesday, Modi said, “There is no bigger guidance, there is no bigger message, no bigger direction… You should ignore those statements…. If you need to pay heed, it should be to the guidance given by the President,” Modi said.
Congress however said Modi had cleverly skirted the real issue of the Dadri lynching.
“The Prime Minister has skirted the real issue. He has appealed to Hindus and Muslims to fight against poverty…By this statement, he has not condemned Dadri incident and those in BJP playing the communal card on the issue,” party spokesperson RPN Singh said.
At a rally in Begusarai earlier in the day, Modi launched a scalding attack on RJD chief Lalu Yadav for his comment that “Hindus too eat beef”. Modi said Yadav with his comment had insulted not just ‘Yaduvanshis’ but also Bihar.
“What all is he saying. What all Yadavs eat? Whatever position Lalu rose to, it was because of these Yaduvanshis and he insulted them. What kind of abuses you are hurling at them. Is it not an insult of Yadavs and Bihar?(sic),” said Modi, addressing election rallies in Munger, Begusarai and Samastipur.
Modi’s repeated references to Lalu’s beef remark drew a sharp reaction from Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who termed it “a brazen attempt to add communal texture to the polls”.
“The real Modi on display — brazen attempt to add communal texture to Bihar polls, but deafening silence on deplorable incident of Dadri,” Kumar said on Twitter right after Modi’s speech.