Azam Khan to take up lynching with UN

Lucknow, Oct 5: Uttar Pradesh minister Mohammad Azam Khan on Monday said he will raise the trend of rising communal violence in India in the United Nations.

Citing the lynching of a Muslim man following rumours that he ate beef in Uttar Pradesh's Dadri area, Khan said he was disturbed by a series of incidents against minorities and would urge the UN to take up the matter with the Indian government.

"Sanyukt Rashtra bahut bade thekedaar bante hain, to ab dekhte hain wo kya karte hain (UN behaves like a major protector, let us see what they do)," he said.

Alleging that the RSS had "made up its mind to burn Uttar Pradesh and make India a Hindu Rashtra", the minority affairs minister said the pro-Hindu group had let lose its "pink volunteers" for this purpose.

Khan said there was no way that 18 percent Muslims in the country could foil any such attempt.

He asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to speak on the issue and tell Muslims if or not they will have any rights in the future and also if they will be allowed to stay on in India or not?

Khan urged people to target five-star hotels serving beef..."just as you razed the Babri mosque".

The Bharatiya Janata Party's state unit took offence to Khan's statements saying he was adding fuel to the communal fire.

The Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh had failed to contain such incidents and was now trying to shirk its responsibility, BJP leader Vijay Bahadur Pathak said.

A week ago, Mohammad Akhlaq, a resident of Greater Noida, was dragged out of his house after a mob alleged he had killed a cow in his house.

IANS