Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told Parliament that the Alwar incident where a mob of cow vigilantes assaulted and killed a Muslim man accused of smuggling cows, did not take place at all.
Responding to Congress MP Madhusudan Mistry’s statement that cow safety volunteers or gau rakshaks had attacked vehicles transporting cattle and killed a man, besides injuring several others, Naqvi said that no incident has taken place on the ground.
A report by the Indian Express quotes Naqvi as saying, "Hamare desh mein yeh message nahi jana chahiye ki hum yeh hatya ko samarthan kar raha hai… issliye it is a very sensitive issue.. crore logo ke bhavnao se judha hua mudha hai.. hamara aisa koi message nahi jana chahiye ki hum hatiya ke samarthan mein khade hue hai (This issue is a very sensitive issue. There should be no indication or message that we are backing those who are violent. It’s an emotional issue for crores of people.)"
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Responding to Naqvi, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said: “I am extremely sorry that the minister is so ill-informed. Even the New York Times knows and the minister doesn’t know.”
The New York Times did carry a story on the Alwar incident on April 5, titled, 'Hindu Cow Vigilantes In Rajasthan, India, Beat Muslim To Death'.
"Cow protection groups, known as gau rakshak, have proliferated in recent years, since the Bharatiya Janata Party of Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power. These vigilante groups have carried out violent attacks on Muslims and, more rarely, low-caste Hindus suspected of slaughtering cows.", the NYT story said.
In a video that had gone viral, a mob is seen brutally thrashing men who were transporting cows in Rajasthan's Alwar. One man among them, Pehlu Khan succumbed to his injuries, two days after the attack. A case was registered against the victims under The Rajasthan Bovine Animal Act, 1995 that prohibits the slaughter and export of cows.
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It is now also being said that Pehlu Khan and his associates were dairy farmers who purchased milch cows from the Jaipur mela.
The incident invited outrage among the opposition in Parliament with MPs demanding that the deputy chairman PJ Kurien allow members to speak on the matter as it was very serious in nature, said the Indian Express.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi while condemning the act tweeted his disappointment with the government, saying "When Govt abdicates responsibility&allows lynch mobs to rule,tragedies of immense proportion follow.Shocking breakdown of law&order in Alwar."
