‘Vigilante’ defender VHP confident that PM won’t condemn recent mob lynchings

Prime Minister Narendra Modi won’t condemn the recent mob lynching of cattle trader Qasim Qureshi in Uttar Pradesh’s Hapur district, predicted a confident Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), one of the core backers of the BJP-led government, on Saturday, ahead of the governing council meeting of the Hindutva outfit in New Delhi starting on Sunday, June 24.

“We are aware that the Prime Minister has condemned lynchings by gau-rakshaks in the past. Did he ever do it again? No, he didn’t,” said VHP’s general secretary Milind Parande at a press conference, going on to add that the VHP’s leadership is expecting the government to form a cow protection ministry in the lead-up to the general elections in 2019. The VHP had reacted sharply to PM Modi’s remarks billing a killer mob as “fake gaurakshaks” in 2016. At the time, the VHP had said that Modi would “pay the price for his words” in 2019 elections.

Two different videos of the Hapur incident show cops from Uttar Pradesh (UP) Police escorting a village mob who are seen carrying a brutalised cattle trader, Qasim. Following the surfacing of the videos, UP Police was forced to tender an apology for their inaction, even as PM Modi and the government gets panned for their studied silence and inability to curb surging hate crimes.

“Every Hindu should stand up to protect the cow. We had been asking previous governments to constitute a Ministry of Promotion of Cow Progeny. But under the current government, the negotiations have reached an advanced stage,” added Parade, part of VHP’s new leadership team which was formed earlier this year.

Even as he tacitly backed the lynching of Muslim farmers in Hapur, Parade remarked that a cow protection bill in the Parliament would put an end to such incidents once for all. He informed media persons that the VHP would pressure the government on prioritising cow protection on its agenda for 2019, as he dismissed concerns that such a step could lead to increasing mob vigilantism and leave minorities and Dalits vulnerable.

“Of late, there has been a surge in support for our organisation across the country. More than 32 lakh youth joined Bajrang Dal this year. Our efforts to enrol young women in Durga Vahini are also receiving an enthusiastic response,” said Parande. Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of the VHP, has often come under criticism for its militant tendencies and moral policing.

Several of BJP’s taller leaders, including former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, have been quoted as saying that Bajrang Dal “embarrassed the BJP.” Both Bajrang Dal and the VHP have been accused of inciting religious violence at different points of time and played an alleged role in the demolition of Babri Masjid and the Gujarat riots.

In a more recent incident, VHP activists earlier this month removed one of Taj Mahal’s entrance, prompting a police complaint by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

The VHP was recently classified as a “militant religious organisation” by America’s Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), as it got bracketed with various Islamist terror outfits such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).

Taking offence to the CIA’s remark, Parade said that the VHP had “no right” to lecture the VHP since it itself had its hands “stained in blood” over the years.