A day after Rahul Gandhi slammed a journalist by asking him whether he works for the government after being questioned over disruption caused by the opposition in the parliament, the senior Congress leader lost his cool yet again, lashing out at the media today for asking him about the accountability of the Punjab lynching incidents.
Punjab was rocked with two incidents of mob lynchings linked to sacrilege last week. Two persons lost their lives in the two separate cases after angry mobs ruthlessly thrashed them to their deaths on the suspicion of committing sacrilege. Punjab is currently under the rule of the Congress government, headed by chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi.
Earlier today, Gandhi posted a tweet saying lynching was completely unheard of before 2014. During his press conference, when a reporter asked Rahul Gandhi about his tweet and drew his attention towards the tragic deaths caused in the lynching incidents in Punjab, a visibly irate Gandhi scion tried to fend off the uncomfortable questions by accusing the journalist of doing the Centre’s bidding. “Sarkar ki dalali mat kijiye(Stop doing Centre’s bidding), don’t distract from the issue,” Rahul said when asked about the inaction over lynching incidents that took place in Punjab over the last few days.
Sarkar ki dalali mat kijiye: #RahulGandhi attacks media when asked upon accountability on the Punjab sacrilege incident.
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) December 21, 2021
Prashant with analysis. pic.twitter.com/bp88uRVlgu
Rahul Gandhi asks journalists ‘do you work for govt’ when asked about opposition disrupting parliament
Earlier yesterday, when Gandhi was questioned over the stalemate in parliament over the Lakhimpur issue, he lambasted the journalist asking him whether he works for the government. In a snippet being widely shared on Twitter, Rahul Gandhi, while addressing the media outside the Parliament, asked a journalist in the loop “kya aap sarkar ke liye kaam karte hain?” (do you work for the government).
The Gandhi scion poses the question to the journalist when the latter asks him why the opposition has been disrupting the Parliament proceedings.
He is also heard telling the journalist that the onus to keep the house on order, lies on the government and not on the opposition parties.
Punjab lynching incidents
India was recently convulsed with two horrifying cases of mob lynching that took place in Punjab over allegations of sacrilege. Angry mobs took law into their own hands and lynched two individuals to death on the suspicion of sacrilege, underscoring the abject state of law and order situation in Punjab.
The first incident of mob lynching linked to sacrilege took place inside the sanctum sanctorum of Darbar Sahib on Saturday evening when regular prayers were going on. CCTV footage showed that suddenly a man entered the sanctum sanctorum and hit the holy Granth Sahib with a Kirpan. Reportedly, he had picked up the golden Kirpan from the sanctum sanctorum of the Gurudwara itself, which was placed near the holy Sikh Scripture. Soon after the incident, he was surrounded by people present at the temple, and later his dead body was placed near the SGPC main gate, which suggests that he was beaten to death by the staff in the office.
And within 24 hours, another man in Punjab was killed over allegations of sacrilege. The incident pertained to a Gurdwara in Nizampur village in the Kapurthala district of Punjab. A man was caught at the Gurudwara for allegedly committing sacrilege. As per reports, the crowd at the Gurudwara where the youth was caught did not let the Police detain the accused. Later it was reported that the youth was lynched to death by the crowd.
While the politicians in Punjab were swift to condemn the alleged sacrilege incidents, none of them bothered denouncing the mob lynching of the two individuals who were beaten to death on suspicion of sacrilege. Initially, the police said there was no sign of sacrilege in Punjab’s Kapurthala Gurudwara. However, later the police slapped charges of ‘hurting religious sentiments’ (IPC 295) on both the men killed in Amritsar and Kapurthala. No case is yet filed on those responsible for their deaths.
