Noida: Political pilgrimage continues to the tiny and until four days ago, peaceful settlement, at Bishada village in the satellite town of Greater Noida, but the grief of the distraught family of Mohammed Iqlakh does not seem to be lessening. After triggering a storm with his comments that Iqlakh’s cold-blooded killing was an ‘accident’, Union Minister and MP from Gautam Buddh Nagar, Mahesh Sharma, paid a visit to the bereaved family on Friday, just after AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi had left.
However, Sharma stuck to his refrain that Iqlakh’s murder by the lynch mob was an “accident” which should not be given a communal colour and over which there should be no politics. “It is a blot on our culture and such incidents do not have a place in a civilised society. If somebody says it was pre-planned, I don’t agree with it. It is an accident and it should be probed by the CBI or the state and the guilty should be punished. Innocents should not be victimised in the name of investigation,” Sharma, Minister of State for Tourism and Culture, said at Bishada where he consoled the bereaved family.
He was responding to Owaisi who described the killing as a pre-planned murder. “We had expected that the Prime Minister, who talks of ‘sabka saath sabka vikas’, would have at least tweeted to condole Iqlakh’s murder. The PM should have at least sent his condolences in a tweet if he believes in pluralism and upholding of law,” Owaisi had said.
Sharply reacting to Owaisi’s remarks, Sharma said, “He (Owaisi) just came to visit the family to do politics. He is no yardstick for me. People asking for my resignation are simply politicising the incident, only my PM can ask for it(resignation).”
Meanwhile, District Magistrate N P Singh, Gautam Buddh Nagar, said people, who are trying to vitiate the atmosphere by posting and spreading rumors on social media platforms, will be dealt with strictly. “We have identified a few people spreading lies on Twitter and Facebook. FIR was registered against Anuj Kumar@kg25 twitter handle and more will follow,” he said.
