Human rights activist Harsh Mander on Saturday said 97% of mob lynching in India since 2010 happened during the Narendra Modi regime.
He was speaking at a programme on ‘Mob lynching and collective silence’ organised by Samarasa, when his Karawan-e-Mohabbat arrived in Mangaluru on Saturday. The Karawan started from Assam on September 4 and visited Jharkhand before arriving here, he said.
Though the country has witnessed a number of communal riots in the past, there is a marked difference between riots and mob lynching. While riots were confined to a particular geographic area, mob lynching intends to convey a message to the entire community irrespective of geographical location, he said.
Mr. Mander said Mr. Modi’s statements against lynching are insignificant as they would not result in any action or inaction. If Mr. Modi really intended to curtail such acts, he could have done so easily, he said. Through these lynchings, millions of Muslims in the country are made to believe that they are not safe, Mr. Mander said. And there is another target of the hate violence — violences against people who fight for victims. The latest incident of murder of Gowri Lankesh is one such instance, he added.
Progressive thinker G. Rajashekhar, mob attack victims Abdul Shameed and B.T. Prasad and others were present.