PM Narendra Modi says Dadri lynching saddening, accuses Opposition of political polarisation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the lynching of a Muslim in Dadri and the cancellation of Ghulam Ali's concert were both "saddening and undesirable".

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday broke his silence on the incidents that stirred controversies of late, saying the Bharatiya Janata Party does not support such events.

Talking to a newspaper, the PM described the lynching of a man in Dadri and cancellation of a concert by Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali in Mumbai as unfortunate.

PM Modi told Anandabazar Patrika: "The Dadri incident or opposition to the Pakistani singer is undesirable and unfortunate. But what is the central government's relation with these incidents".

“Such incidents took place in the past too. The BJP has always opposed pseudo secularism. The Opposition is raking up the issue again in the garb of such incidents. This debate can be resolved through dialogue and discussion. The BJP never supports such incidents.”

The Opposition is accusing the BJP of communalism but aren't they playing politics of polarisation, asked the PM.

Modi claimed those parties were resorting to such propaganda which did not want the development of minorities and look at them as vote bank.

A man was brutally killed in Bisada village in Dadri in Uttar Pradesh, not far from the Indian capital, on suspicion that he consumed beef after killing a cow last month.

Around 10 days after the Dadri lunching, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, without taking any names or even alluding to the killing, had urged people to follow President Pranab Mukherjee's appeal on upholding core civilisational values of diversity, tolerance and plurality.

In another incident, BJP's ally Shiv Sena opposed Pakistani ghazal singer Ghulam Ali's concert in Mumbai.

The Opposition had been demanding that the PM should break his silence on these issues.