Caravan News
NEW DELHI: Top Muslim organizations have strongly condemned the assault of 78-year-old peace activist and eminent social worker Swami Agnivesh allegedly by a Hindutva mob in Jharkhand on Tuesday.
Navaid Hamid, president, All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat, said Mushawarat “strongly condemns brutal attack on Swami Agnivesh by Sangh Terrorists in Jharkhand and demands immediate arrest of culprits.”
“I hope Jharkhand Police would not spare any culprit under political pressure,” said Hamid referring to the BJP government of the state.
Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, India’s one of the largest organizations, has also condemned the “heinous and cowardly attack” on Agnivesh in Pakud district.
“We strongly condemn the heinous and cowardly attack in Pakud (Jharkhand) on renowned social activist and Arya Samaj leader Swami Agniveshji. He has always been in the forefront for social justice and communal harmony. Till now most of the mob-lynchings took place against those from the Muslim community but now a renowned religious head from the majority community has been attacked and it shows the severity of the situation,’’ said Jamaat chief Maulana Syed Jalaluddin Umari in a statement.
Jamaat chief further said: “He has been attacked by those who want to polarize society in the name of religion and cannot tolerate anybody who exposes their divisive policies. It seems the attackers were confident that they can break the law and no action would be taken against them. We demand stern action against the guilty and the officers who were in charge of maintaining law and order but failed to protect Swamiji.’’
The attackers were allegedly members of BJP’s youth wing and some other saffron outfits. While assaulting Agnivesh, they were shouting ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind, another largest Muslim organization, while condemning the incident, said the attack on Swami Agnivesh shows that communal forces are considering themselves above law.
“It is unfortunate that Swami Agnivesh was assaulted by a mob the day the Supreme Court of India said that mob violence cannot have any place in democracy,” said Jamiat chief Maulana Arshad Madani.
“Recurrence of incidents of mob violence and lynching prove that neither the central government nor the state government are serious,” he said adding that Swami Agnivesh was attacked to silence him.
