On Thursday, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot reached Udaipur to meet deceased Kanhaiya Lal’s family who was killed by two Islamic assailants over his post in support of Nupur Sharma. While talking to the media, Gehlot glossed over the Islamist communal crime as an ‘act of terror’ with connections outside the country.
#KanhaiyaWasBetrayed
— TIMES NOW (@TimesNow) June 30, 2022
“We have arrested both the accused…This is not a communal but a terror act”, says Rajasthan CM #AshokGehlot over the brutal killing of #KanhaiyaLal pic.twitter.com/emij3kCiaS
Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot was seen patting his back upon the ‘swift’ arrest of the murderers of Kanhaiya Lal, a Hindu tailor who was killed in his own shop on June 28 in Udaipur. Talking to the media, Gehlot said, “We found out within one night that this case has connections internationally. This tells us that this incident is an act of terror. This has nothing to do with two religions fighting with each other.”
However, the killers themselves had done no such ambiguity or whitewashing. They had made it perfectly clear that they were killing Kanhaiya Lal ‘in the name of Allah’, because (by sharing a post in support of Nupur Sharma) he had insulted Prophet Muhammad, as per them, and had added that anyone who insults Prophet Muhammad has to be beheaded.
The two killers of Kanhaiya Lal, Mohammed Riyaz Akhtar and Ghous Mohammed who were nabbed by Rajasthan Police had published a video taking responsibility for the crime, in the name of ‘Allah’. In the video, the assailants could be seen saying, “We have chopped off the head from the one from Udaipur. Oh, Allah, we will live for you and die for you.”
#उदयपुर आज दोपहर मुसलमान भाइयों ने एक हिंदू आदमी को दिनदहाड़े दुकान में घुसकर मार डाला और वीडियो जारी कर बयान दिया है अब देखना ये है की हमारी सरकार इनको इनाम देगी या फांसी 😑#udaipur pic.twitter.com/KAfhb6RnP3
— Parmar Dalu Singh ❁ (@dsparmar_10) June 28, 2022
The murderers further issued a threat against PM Modi, when they said, “Oh Narendra Modi, listen, you’ve started the fire and will we extinguish it. I hope this knife reaches your neck as well, Inshallah. Oh, the people of Udaipur, chant, “Gustakh e Rasool ki Sazah, Sar tan see Juda (The one who insults Allah has the only Punishment, which is the separation of the head from the body).”
Deceased Kanhaiya Lal had shared a social media post in support of Nupur Sharma from his mobile. However, after this, Kanhaiyalal was arrested by the Dhanmandi police station officials in Udaipur. He continued receiving death threats over the post after his release, after which he had appealed to the police for protection but the police did not take him seriously. Instead, the local police had made Kanhaiya Lal and some local Muslims sign a ‘compromise’ document and had sought to put the matter to rest.
CM Ashok Gehlot who was seeing glorifying the ‘swift’ action of the Police against the perpetrators, also made a bizarre and problematic claim about the nature of the violence. By calling it merely an act of ‘terror’ with international linkages, Gehlot whitewashed the fact that the incident was an Islamic act of terror. The religious angle in the case cannot be subsumed as admittedly it was revenge for the supposed ‘blasphemy’ committed by Kanhaiya Lal in supporting Nupur Sharma.
Moreover, with the assassination of Kanhaiya Lal, the Islamist fanatics have given a signal that they would murder anyone who is declared a blasphemer. Gehlot’s whitewashing of the Islamist violent act has hence come unwarranted.
