Congress rejects Amit Shah's lynching remark, says BJP playing 'blame game'

Brushing aside Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah's allegation that lynching cases were higher under Congress regime, the grand old party said the saffron party is an expert in playing blame game.

"It is unfortunate that BJP is playing the blame game in the matters of lynching. There is no concept of competitive lynching. I disagree and reject with the fact that more lynching incidents took place during 2011-13. These reports are false," Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi told ANI.

He further said lynching incidents have not happened since the last 70 years but are happening now in the name of cow protection.

The BJP chief on Saturday had disapproved that the cases of lynching in the country rose in the three years of the Narendra Modi Government, stating that the atrocities took place comparatively higher in the previous Congress regime.

"In 2011, 2012 and 2013, lynching cases were much more than three years of our government, but no one raised questions then. Even when Akhlaq was lynched, the Samajwadi Party (SP) was in the government. The law and order comes under the state subject, hence the responsibility fell on the SP, but they instead took out dharnas against Prime Minister Modi," Shah said at Goa rally.

Shah's comment came hours after President Pranab Mukherjee condemned the recent string of brutal lynching incidents emerging from across the nation.

"With the change of history, we can see colonialism now as dominance, exploitation by one power to another power. When we see on the TV and read the newspapers that an individual has been lynched, and when the mob frenzy becomes so high and uncontrollable then we have to pause and reflect," the President said.

"I am not talking of vigilantism, I am talking about are we vigilant enough proactively to save the basic tenets of our country?" he questioned.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had strongly voiced out against the lynching incidents, saying that there are growing atrocities against innocent people in the guise of cow protection.

"Killing people in the name of Gau Bhakti is not acceptable. This is not something that Mahatma Gandhi would have approved. There is no place for violence in the society," Prime Minister Modi said while speaking in Gujarat.

The Prime Minister asserted that violence is not a solution of any problem and no one has the right to take the law in his or her own hands in this nation.

During the last few months, incidents of mob lynching, violence, murder in the name of cow protection have increased causing a tense situation across the country.

-ANI