Prime Minister Narendra Modi has finally broken his silence on the murder of a 52-year-old Muslim man in Bisada village in Uttar Pradesh, saying that India should strive to fight against poverty instead of in-fighting between Hindus and Muslims. His statement comes 11 days after the brutal killing in Dadri took place.
Addressing an election rally in Nawada in Bihar on Thursday, ahead of the state elections later this month, PM Modi said that communal politics should be put to an end.
"We should follow the path set by the President (Pranab Mukherjee)," he said, referring to Mukherjee's advice to not waste India's "core civilisation values of diversity, tolerance and plurality."
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"I want to appeal to everyone that please don't listen to hate speech," he said, adding that these were made for scoring political points.
The PM urged Hindus and Muslims to unite against fighting poverty in the country, saying communal harmony would take the nation forward.
Earlier, Modi had maintained a stony silence on the issue even as prominent leaders of his party have run amok, blaming the victims and even calling it "an accident".
Political leaders have quickly made the Bisada killing a political issue. While Prachi also targeted Uttar Pradesh Minister Azam Khan over his letter to the United Nations seeking its intervention to look into the "miseries" of minorities in India, alleging Khan had "tarnished" India's image, Shiv Sena too had asked for Khan's sacking earlier.
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