New Delhi: Be it the brutal Rajsamand killing or the Mewat lynching episode, Rajasthan has seen a series of attacks on minorities in the past year, yet, TV Mohandas Pai, an eminent member of the state government’s digital council, believes these are “just criminal acts”.
Mohandas Pai, IT veteran and a member of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje's digital advisory council told News18 that most of these incidents were nothing but an "orchestrated campaign bereft of data".
"How many lynching incident happened in Rajasthan? Maybe 5, 10 or 15. Look at the population, which is seven crores. India is in the midst of an ideological fight, a fight between Left and the Right. Since the Left is out of power, they claim that something is wrong with this government," said the former Infosys director.
The latest lynching incident in Rajasthan was that of a 25-year-old Muslim migrant worker, a native of Kanpur, who was allegedly lynched by a mob on February 3 on suspicion of being a child lifter.
In February, when Mohammad Faisal Siddique was taking his friend Aslam Ansari’s two-year-old daughter to the market to buy her chocolates, some people suspected that he had kidnapped the child. The mob of about 50 people tied up Siddique to an electric pole and thrashed him mercilessly, leading to his death.
Days later, a Dalit boy was beaten to death for playing Holi in Alwar.
Pai told News18 on Wednesday that such incidents do not prove that these are part of a "larger scheme of things". He observed that this was only a problem due to shortage in the state’s police force needed to handle the law and order situation.
"Rajasthan is just a victim. This is an orchestrated propaganda bereft of data. Reports say that some people lynched someone when the truth was he had died of a heart attack. The Bengali man who was burnt was a criminal act. How can it be a part of anything bigger," said Pai who also stated that "cow vigilantism is part of hafta racket that extorts money and nothing else".
Pai, who was in Jaipur to address the Rajasthan IT Day event along with Chief Minister Raje said that the state will reap benefits out of the digital push in the upcoming elections.
"If Rajasthan government shows that crores of people are benefitting from this digital revolution, they have a winning formula in place for the next Assembly elections," said Pai who also believes that "West Bengal, UP, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh are way behind in IT as the political leadership does not understand the impact of technology".
The Vasundhara Raje-led BJP government on Wednesday inaugurated the Abhay Kaman Centre for Jodhpur, Bikaner and Bharatpur. The surveillance system with a dedicated control room has been designed to ensure safety of residents.
"Now you know you are safe because big daddy is watching over you," said Raje while inaugurating the schemes.
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