President Pranab Mukherjee on Saturday expressed concern over incidents of mob lynching around the country, saying that people must remain vigilant against challenges to the fundamental tenets of India’s pluralist society.
“We have to ponder over, pause and reflect when we read in the newspaper or see on the television screen that an individual is being lynched because of some alleged violation or law or not. When mob frenzy becomes so high and irrational, uncontrollable we are to pause and reflect: are we vigilant enough? I am not talking of vigilantism – I’m talking about are we vigilant enough proactively to save the basic tenets of our country,” President Mukherjee said at the launch of a commemorative edition of the Congress-run National Herald newspaper.
“Citizen’s vigilance, intellectuals vigilance, newspaper and media’s vigilance can act as the biggest deterrent to the forces of darkness and backwardness,” he said.
After a number of incidents of mob lynching, including the killing of a 16-year-old Muslim boy by men on a train who accused him of being a “cow-eater”, PM Modi this week had said that the killing of people by cow vigilantes is unacceptable.
An increasing number of attacks by self-declared gau rakshaks or cow vigilantes and violent crowds spurred nationwide protests this week under a campaign called “Not In My Name”.
There have been at least 17 cow or beef-related attacks by crowds in the last 22 months alone. Incidents like the brutal killing of a police officer in Jammu and Kashmir last week have also added to concerns of rising instances of mob violence.
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