Opposition politicising Seraikela lynching: BJP

The BJP on Tuesday accused the Congress and other Opposition parties of politicising the lynching of a youth in Jharkhand's Seraikela Kharsawan district and claimed that the state government had "zero tolerance" on such incidents.

"The Raghubar Das government has zero tolerance on such incidents. No sooner had the incident came to light, the (district) superintendent of police suspended the two police personnel on the direction of the government," Bharatiya Janata Party state spokesperson Pratul Shah Deo said in a statement.

Tabrez Ansari was tied to a pole and thrashed with sticks by a mob at Dhatkidih village last Wednesday on the suspicion of theft. The newly-married youth was purportedly seen in a video being forced to chant "Jai Shri Ram" and "Jai Hanuman" slogans. The 24-year-old succumbed to his injuries on Saturday, police had said.

Deo said 11 people had already been arrested in connection with the case and a special investigation team was probing the incident, adding that the process of identifying the remaining accused was on through a video footage.

The BJP leader accused the Congress of shedding crocodile tears. He said it was "unfortunate" that the Congress was "politicising" the incident despite the fact that the grand old party had "triggered the worst mob-lynching of Sikhs in 1984" and former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi observing that "when a big tree falls, the earth shakes".

"The Raghubar Das government does not discriminate anyone on caste or religion. Everyone is being developed and whoever might be the guilty will not be spared," Deo said.

"The Opposition (parties') governments (in other states) should also take the same lesson, particularly the Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal where people chanting 'Jai Shri Ram' are being beaten up and BJP workers are being killed," he said.

Deo warned the Opposition not to politicise the incident and cited the example how the lynch mob of Ramgarh incident had been sentenced in a 'record time".

Eight people were convicted in the Ramgarh lynching incident when they killed a person on suspicion of ferrying beef in 2017.