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Bekijk Volledige Versie : Narendra Modi calls for unity in wake of Muslim man’s murder for eating beef



mark61
08-10-15, 21:55
India’s prime minister calls for unity between Muslims and Hindus amid increasing religious tensions over eating beef


Agence France-Presse in Delhi

Thursday 8 October 2015 18.49 BST

India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has appealed for religious unity after days of growing tensions over a Muslim man’s murder by a mob for supposedly eating beef.

The Hindu nationalist leader has been under growing pressure to break his silence over the incident and defuse a row raging over a feared rising intolerance towards Muslims and other religious minorities.

Mohammad Akhlaq, 50, was dragged from his home near the Indian capital, Delhi, last week and beaten to death after rumours spread that he had eaten beef. His 22-year-old son was severely injured in the attack. At least eight men have been arrested over the murder on 28 September.
Inside the Indian village where a mob killed a man for eating beef
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Without referring specifically to the attack, Modi said the nation will only prosper “when Hindus and Muslims unite and fight” against poverty instead of against each other.

“The country has to stand united. Harmony, brotherhood and peace will lead us to development,” Modi said at an election rally for the forthcoming polls in the eastern state of Bihar.

Modi also implored people to ignore political leaders who have jumped on the issue to win votes along religious lines. Several of Modi’s own ministers have stopped short of condemning the attack, fuelling concerns among religious minorities of an erosion of rights in the world’s biggest democracy and a strengthening of Hindu hardliners.

Cows are considered sacred by most Hindus in an officially secular India, whose millions of Muslims and other minorities eat beef as a source of protein. India is the world’s biggest exporter of buffalo meat, an industry mainly run by Muslims.

Modi’s comments come just hours after legislators from his ruling Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) punched and shoved an opposition Muslim member in a state parliament over eating beef. Television footage showed several BJP legislators attacking Abdul Rashid in the Jammu and Kashmir state assembly, for holding a provocative “beef party”.

Narendra Modi calls for unity in wake of Muslim man (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/08/narendra-modi-calls-for-unity-in-wake-of-muslim-mans-for-eating-beef)

Hindoes als de nieuwe moslims.