The mute Opposition

Why is it so silent on lynchings?

The President of India has spoken out. So has Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has condemned it. But what about the leaders of the Opposition? Only Brinda Karat, the Rajya Sabha MP from the Communist Party of India (Marxist), took the trouble to visit the family of Junaid Khan, a recent victim of such attacks against Muslims and Dalits, and robustly denounced the incident. Apart from her, leaders from Rahul Gandhi to Nitish Kumar to Mayawati and Mamata Banerjee — all vocal defenders of Indian secularism when it suits them — are yet to be heard.