‘Vedas order killing of sinners who slaughter cows’: RSS defends Dadri lynching
New Delhi: Hitting out at writers who have returned their awards to protest ‘rising intolerance’ in the country, including the lynching of a man in Dadri over beef rumours, RSS mouthpiece Panchjanya cited the Vedas to defend the killing of Ikhlaq, the Dadri victim.
The RSS mouthpiece carried a cover story in which it justifies the Dadri incident, saying 'the Vedas order that a sinner who slaughters a cow must be killed. For a lot of us, this is a question of life and death'.
The story titled 'The other side of disturbance' argues that Ikhlaq’s killing was but a “natural reaction” to the “sin” of cow slaughter. It further justified the incident that had sparked massive outrage by referring to Sir Isaac Newton's theory of reaction.
"The article questioned the rebellion by writers who are returning their awards to protest the lynching episode.
"You (writers) did not see the cow slaughter by Iqlakh. You didn't see the fact that none of the media reports on Dadri mentioned any personal enmity of anyone with Iqlakh. Dadri village has never even seen any communal tension. One could have believed Iqlakh's death to be without reason but then we have the Newton's law of every action inviting an equal and opposite reaction. The incident (Iqlakh's killing) in a village that has a history of peace could not have been without reason."
The article further asks the rebelling writers why they "fail to question the social mindset which encouraged Mohammad Iqlakh to commit a crime which could have such grave consequences".
Holding that all present day Muslims were Hindus some generations back,the article said, "Who has taught converted Indians to spit on their own culture and values? After all, all Indian Muslims including Iqlakh were Hindus until few generations ago.Iqlakh's ancestors too were cow protectors who like the many courageous people used to punish cow killers.
"How did these converts become so hateful as to turn cow killers from cow protectors?"
While acknowledging that there is a law of land and no one should have taken the law into their hands in Dadri, the article goes on to add, "Of course India has laws and no one has the right to take laws into their hands but what should one say about those people and their leaders who, while living among 80 percent Hindus, have no concerns for the majority sentiment."
The article says radical Muslim organizations have since centuries been working to "vitiate" the minds of converts on issues such as cow protection.
"Madarsas and India's Muslim leadership teaches the Muslims to hate all their traditions. It is perhaps due to the acts (of radicals) that Iqlakh ended up killing a cow though the probe findings are yet to come out," says the article.
However, the Hindutva organisation on Sunday claimed that it does not support any incidence of violence including the Dadri lynching and rubbished the reports in the media.
The report that RSS supports Dadri incident is blatantly false and baseless. RSS never supported any incident of violence- Dr Vaidya
— RSS (@RSSorg) October 18, 2015RSS spokesperson Manmohan Vaidya said that they have demanded a for a thorough inquiry in the incident and want the guilty to be punished.
RSS has clearly stated abt Dadri violence that a thorough inquiry should be conducted & the guilty should be punished with : Dr Vaidya
— RSS (@RSSorg) October 18, 2015As the RSS organ's justification of Dadri killing triggered a political storm, Panchjanya editor Hitesh Shankar distanced himself from the piece saying the views expressed in the article are personal.
"We don't support any violent incident. The writer has expressed his independent views. These are not editorial views. I don't recollect any write up justifying Iqlakh's killing. The Dadri incident should be probed," Shankar said.
