Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that the reports from the Uttar Pradesh government indicate that there is no communal angle to the events of the Dadri lynching and added that the word ‘beef’ was not even used, while saying it was difficult to establish pre-meditation. He said this while responding to the intolerance debate in the Lok Sabha.

Rajnath said, “However, as Home Minister, I am ready to get the CBI to investigate the matter if the State government sends a request, except that one Minister in the Uttar Pradesh government wanted to refer the matter to the United Nations.”

He said this as a reference to UP Minister Azam Khan’s action of sending a complaint to the UN. Rajnath defended the record of the government in defending tolerance.

Home Minister said that in all cases like that of Professor Kalburgi’s death, Govind Pansare and and Narendra Dabholkar, referred to in Opposition speeches, attributed to the Central government wrongly.

He said “The BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are the biggest victims of intolerance. Our ideology never wanted India to be divided on religious lines. Partition, Emergency and the 1984 Sikh riots are the biggest examples of intolerance,”

Mr. Singh questioned the opposition about earlier instances where PM commented on every event, as a reply to their charge that Modi maintained silence on all these incidents. “I am the Home Minister, it is my job to speak on internal security and issues concerning it, and to take action on such incidents,” he said.

-Sumana