Shimla: A day after a man was arrested in an alleged cow smuggling case here, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and local village panchayat today charged the police with failure to take strict action against the cow smugglers, and threatened to launch a state-wide agitation.
The representatives of VHP, Cow Protection Committee and Local Panchayat addressed a press conference and accused the police of impleading innocent persons in false cases.
Alleging that the police was acting under the pressure of Muslim Welfare Society and not taking strict action against the cow smugglers, they warned that in case the police did not desist from implicating the innocent local youths who assisted them in capturing the cow smugglers from forests, the VHP and other organisations would launch a state-wide agitation.
“One person, who was arrested yesterday has been remanded to police custody up to October 22, police said, adding that the number of people involved in the case could further go up.
The arrested person, who is a local resident, is accused of killing an alleged cow smuggler three days back.
Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee President Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu today criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for growing incidents of religious intolerance and said that such incidents were against the cultural ethos of the country.
Addressing a meeting of PCC Secretaries in commemoration of 125th birth anniversary of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Sukhu said, “Growing incidents of religious intolerance have jolted the intellectuals, poets and writers after which they have returned their Sahitya Academy Awards to show their resentment against Modi government’s failure to reign in divisive forces in the country.
“It is the duty of the Centre to protect the cultural ethos and maintain peace across the country but Modi tried to wash his hands off from his government’s responsibilities by saying the Central government had no role in such incidents.”
He termed Nehru as the architect of Modern India and said that he had laid the foundation of the country on the ideals of socialism, secularism and democratic values.
“But now these ideals seemed to have forgotten by the Modi government which is the reason that incidents of communal violence and religious intolerance are growing in the country,” he added.
He urged the state government to take strict action against the persons who had allegedly beaten one person to death and also called for taking measures to stop illegal smuggling of bovine animals.
“Strict action should be taken against guilty persons as our constitution does not allow anyone to take law in their hands,” he added.
–PTI