Keep new India with you, give us old India: Ghulam Nabi Azad targets Modi over Jharkhand lynchings

Coming down heavily on the government over recent incidents of lynching and crime in Jharkhand, leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Ghulam Nabi Azad on Monday said the state has become a factory of lynching and violence, "requesting" Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "give us our Old India where there was love, culture." 

"Dalits and Muslims are killed there every week. The PM, 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," Azad said in Rajya Sabha. 

"I request you to keep the New India to yourself and give us our Old India where there was love, culture. Hindus used to feel the pain when Muslims and Dalits used to get hurt. When something used to get into the eyes of Hindus, Muslims and Dalits used to shed tears for them," he added.

"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.

In yet another lynching incident, a Muslim man was beaten up mercilessly for over 18 hours on the suspicion of theft in Jharkhand's Kharsawan district on Saturday. The 24-year-old victim, identified as Tabrez Ansari, was attacked by a mob on June 18 and was later handed over to the police. He had been in the judicial custody since June 18 and was taken to a hospital on June 22 after his condition deteriorated. On the same day, Ansari succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.

Several videos of the incident emerged on social media show a man hitting Tabrez brutally with a wooden stick while forcing him to chant "Jai Shri Ram" and "Jai Hanuman". The videos of the Jharkhand mob lynching case have gone viral on social networking sites ever since the incident came to the light.