Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday tweeted a sharp attack at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, suggesting that there has been a spike in instances of lynching after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) came to power in 2014. Before 2014, the word “lynching” was practically unheard of. #ThankYouModiJi,” the 51-year-old Congress leader said in a Twitter post on Tuesday in Hindi and English. Gandhi’s swipe at PM Modi came against a backdrop of instances of lynching of two accused following instances of alleged desecrations at Sikh shrines in Punjab over the past week. On Saturday, a man was killed over an alleged sacrilege bid at the Golden Temple. The following day, a second person was beaten to death for reportedly disrespecting the Sikh flag at a gurudwara in Punjab’s Kapurthala district.
BJP spokesperson Tom Vadakkan promptly clapped back. “The dynast should remember 1984 and the anti-Sikh riots—that’s what set precedent to the act of lynching,” said Vadakkan.
Meanwhile, Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday lashed out at the media when asked about his latest tweet on lynching and told the journalist to stop working as a government agent. BJP IT cell Head Amit Malviya slammed Rahul Gandhi and said that lashing out at journalists is an attack on freedom of the media.