Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said in the Rajya Sabha that he wanted old India where "there was no hatred, anger or lynching". "I request you to keep the new India to yourself and give us our old India where there was love and culture. Hindus used to feel the pain when Muslims and dalits used to get hurt. When something used to get into eyes of Hindus, Muslims and dalits used to shed tears for them," he said, reported ANI.
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"In old India there was no hatred, anger or lynching. New India is one where humans are enemies of each other. You won't be scared of animals in a jungle, but you'll be scared of humans in a colony. Give us India where Hindus, Muslims,Sikhs and Christians live for each other," he said.
Referring to the president's speech on Mahatma Gandhi's 150th anniversary celebrations, Azad said unfortunately a candidate of the ruling party called the killer of the father of the nation a patriot and no action was taken and the candidate was a parliamentarian now.
Azad, while attacking BJP for defending 2008 Malegaon blast accused Sadhvi Pragya Thakur, however did not mention her by name, and said: "How is this possible and how someone can defend this? Though it doesn't make any difference to us, this is a blot on the face of the ruling party which cannot be wiped out."
He also referred to how former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, on complaints about a Congress candidate in 1952, had instead urged people to vote for an Independent candidate who had a clean impage.
About Jharkhand, he said it has become a lynching factory where Muslims and Dalits were lynched and attacked routinely.
Reacting to a recent case of lynching in the state, he said, "Jharkhand has become a factory of lynching and violence. Dalits and Muslims are being killed there every week. PM Modi, we are with you in the fight of sabka saath sabka vikas but it should be there for people to see it. We can't see it anywhere."
In a recent lynching incident, Tabrez Ansari, 22, died in a Jharkhand hospital on Sunday, days after he was brutally thrashed by a mob at Dhatkidih village in Seraikela district on suspicion of stealing a bike.
The lynching was reported days after similar incidents in other parts of the country.
-Inputs from agencies
