All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Sunday said organisations linked to the Sangh Parivar were accountable for crimes against people who refuse to chant slogans of "Jai Shri Ram" and "Vande Mataram". "People are being beaten up if they do not say 'Jai Shri Ram' and 'Vande Mataram.' These incidents are not going to stop. Only Muslims and Dalits are being targeted. There are organisations behind such incidents and all of them are linked to the Sangh Parivar," ANI quoted the Hyderabad MP as saying. Owaisi's remarks came a day after an 18-year-old boy was allegedly assaulted and forced to chant 'Jai Shri Ram' by a group of youths in a market in Kanpur. Following the incident, a case was lodged against unidentified assailants on charges of promoting enmity on grounds of religion and assault. The accused are yet to be identified. The comment also comes amid national outrage over the alleged assault of a man in Jharkhand, who was allegedly tied to a pole and thrashed by a mob in Seraikela Kharsawan district on suspicion of theft. The man was purportedly seen in a video being forced to chant 'Jai Shri Ram' and 'Jai Hanuman'. He later succumbed to his injuries. Last week, another man was allegedly beaten up, abused and forced to chant “Jai Shri Ram” in the Diva area of Thane. The three accused, all residents of Agasan village in Diva, were arrested and remanded in police custody. However, Union minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi on Saturday said incidents of lynching should not be given a communal colour or politicised. “Lynching is a criminal subject. It should not be given a communal colour. It is highly condemnable and no one should politicise it,” the Minority Affairs Minister had said.
