Journalism of Courage
J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has blamed Narendra Modi for the Bodoland killings, saying the BJP PM candidate had “instilled poison in people’s hearts against Muslims” with his speech. There was “somewhere some connection” between Modi’s speech and the killings, he said on Saturday.
“Assam mein tees Musalman qatl hue. Kyun? Kyunki, Modi sahib nay taqreer karkay Musalmanon ke khilaf logon ke dilon mein zehar dalnay ki koshish ki (In Assam, 30 Muslims were murdered. Why? Because Modi sahib, with his speech, tried to fill peoples’ hearts with poison against Muslims),” Omar said at a rally in Tangmarg.
“This is a fact. This fact can’t be denied,” he added.
Campaigning for the Baramulla parliamentary constituency, Omar said, “Three days ago, he (Modi) went there. (He) gave the status of Bangladeshis to all Muslims and today 30 Muslims are sleeping in their graves. When you fight elections with strong communal overtones, you can risk inflaming passions. It cannot be a coincidence that you run a campaign in that part of the country (Assam), where you pass off all Muslims as Bangladeshi illegal immigrants, and suddenly 30 Muslims are killed in unprovoked violence. Clearly, there is somewhere some connection.”
The killings were the result of “dividing people on communal lines”, the J&K CM added. “If you try and divide people, particularly on communal lines, if you try and instill fear in the hearts of people, these are the sort of results. You can’t lead this country by fear. You can’t lead this country by division, and that is why we are so keen to see Rahul Gandhi assume the office of PM. He is not trying to scare people to vote for him.”
