Lynchings will be commonplace under Shah: Kejriwal

If BJP President Amit Shah ever becomes the Union Home Minister, lynchings will be commonplace in India, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Saturday.

Slamming Shah's comments at Thursday's campaign meeting in Darjeeling, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President reportedly said that if the party is voted to power, all infiltrators in the country, barring Sikhs, Buddhists and Hindus, would be weeded out of India, Kejriwal asked how Shah would propose to dispose off Goa's Christian and Muslim minorities, which account for more than one third of the state's population of 1.5 million.

"Last time around, Amit Shah did not contest the Lok Sabha elections. He is now... and if Shah becomes the Union Home Minister, then there will be be mob lynchings throughout India," Kejriwal said while addressing a poll rally in South Goa constituency's Lohia maidan.

"If there are just three mob lynchings in Goa, tourists will stop coming to this state and Goa's economy, business and jobs will be affected," the Delhi Chief Minister said.

Criticising Shah's comments at the West Bengal rally on Thursday, Kejriwal said that in Shah's political lexicon, members of minority communities like Christians, Muslims, Parsis and Jains were "infiltrators".

"He (Shah) is saying it openly in poll rallies that barring three religions, all others will be removed from the country. This is a very dangerous statement," he said.

"Let us take the example of Goa. Goa has a population of 15 lakh of which 28 per cent are Catholics and 11 per cent Muslims. How will Amit Shah do it in Goa? Will he throw six lakh people in the sea, kill them, snatch their jobs and start riots," Kejriwal asked.

--IANS

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