RSS condemns attacks on Dalits, calls such acts illegal and inhuman

Earlier on Sunday, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) had warned the BJP, after PM Narendra Modi’s remarks against self-styled cow vigilantes, saying that the party will pay for it in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

In an unsigned statement, VHP’s Gujarat unit called Modi’s “anti-socials by night and gau rakshaks by day” remark shocking and an insult to “cow protectors”.

“Thousands of butchers killing one lakh cows every year are not termed ‘goondas’ and gau rakshaks like Gita Rambhiya (who was killed in Ahmedabad years ago) are termed ‘goondas’… This shows your change of heart,” stated VHP, which also demanded a nationwide law to ban cow slaughter.

In Agra, the Hindu outfit’s Braj region’s vice-president Sunil Parashar said Modi’s remarks have “hurt” gau rakshaks and that “he will have to pay for it in the next Lok Sabha polls”.

Claiming that the VHP was the only organisation that worked for cow protection, Parashar said the government must conduct a survey to identify who have beef running shops in the name of gau raksha. He also told the PM to stop being friendly with Pakistan as this would “cost him the Centre’s chair”.

In Tenagana on Sunday, speaking out for the second time in two days against vigilantism in the name of cow protection, PM Modi issued a call to “stop attacking Dalits”, saying “shoot me if you want, not Dalits”, and asked people to beware of “fake gau rakshaks” who “have a problem with the country’s unity” and “only want to destroy society”.

While the Prime Minister had criticised “gau rakshaks” during his town hall meeting on Saturday, it was for the first time that he was referring to the Dalit issue, which had ignited a nationwide debate following the flogging on July 11 of members of the community for skinning dead cattle in Gujarat’s Una.