Pehlu Khan murder: Demand to set up SIT to probe "conspiracy" by Sangh Parivar, role of police in cow vigilantism

Protest in Jaipur against murder of Pehlu Khan

By A Representative
An alliance of Left and civil rights organizations, the Bhoomi Adhikar Andolan (BAA), has decided to organize a mass dharna in front of Parliament on April 19, 2017 to demand setting up of a special investigation team (SIT) under the direct supervision of Supreme Court to probe the role of the police and the Sangh Parivar in the conspiracy which led to the murder of Pehlu Khan in Alwar early this month.
Formed to bring together organizations fighting for land rights, BAA consist of All-India Kisan Sabha, National Alliance for People’s Movements, All-India Agriculture Workers Union, All-India Union of Forest Working People, Akhil Bhartiya Krishak Khet Mazdoor Sangathan, Jan Sangharsh Samanvaya Samiti, Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, Insaf, Kisan Manch, All Kisan Mahan Sabha, Delhi Solidarity Group and others.
Alleging that the Rajasthan under the Vasundhara Raje government is witnessing “complete lawlessness and anarchy”, failing to arrest any of the real culprits of the heinous murder, BAA regretted in a statement ahead of the mass dharna, “The state government has not announced any compensation to the victims.”
Especially criticizing Home Minister Gulam Chand Kataria’s for siding with “criminal elements” by justifying the lynching, BAA said, “The Narendra Modi Government has equated the victims with the culprits and miserably failed to ensure justice on such a sensitive issue.”

“Anybody can kill any person and get scot free in Rajasthan if he shouts slogans of Sangh Parivar”, BAA said, adding, “Cow has become a symbol of communal extremist politics under the Modi raj.”

It added, “BAA considers the heinous attack as part of conscious efforts and conspiracy by the Hindu communal forces led by the RSS to systematically and slowly poison society with communal hatred and intolerance with the aim of dividing the people for narrow political and electoral benefits.”

Rajasthan home minister Kataria

BAA said, “Cattle protection not as an issue of religious belief but an agrarian issue, having severe implication on peasant economy.”
It stated, “26% of the agrarian GDP is from animal husbandry”, adding, “The recent enactments by some of the state governments led by BJP for so called ‘cow protection’ are an infringement on rights of the peasantry on cattle trade.”
“Such laws virtually ban the cattle trade with dire consequences on rural agrarian economy”, it warned adding, “Sangh Pariwar organisations are consistently unleashing violence by raking up sensitive issues like ban on cow slaughter and beef eating especially after Narendra Modi Government assumed power.”
Calling for a Left and democratic alternative at the national level to resist the conscious efforts of Sangh Parivar to perpetuate civil war in the country in the name of extreme religious communal fanaticism”, BAA demanded that the Vasundhara Raje government of Rajasthan must provide Rs 1 crore as compensation to the bereaved family of Pehlu Khan and Rs 25 lakhs each to the other victims.”
At the same time, it added, “The Manohar Lal Khattar government of Haryana must ensure Immediate and free medical treatment to all the victims.”
Those who have signed the statement include Left leaders Hannan Mollah, Atul Kumar Anjan, and Suneet Chopra, and civil rights leaders Ashok Chowdhury, Sunilam, Deep Singh Shekhavat, Anil Chowdhary, Sanjay Singh, Prem Singh, Satyavan, Roma, and Virendra Vidrohi.