New Delhi: The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Tuesday termed the killing of a tailor in Rajasthan’s Udaipur district as a “challenge” to the country’s sovereignty as well as the freedom of thoughts and idea of secularism.
The VHP’s reaction came after two men slit the throat of a tailor earlier in the day, saying in a video post on social media that they are avenging an insult to Islam.
In a video clip posted online, one of the purported assailants declared that they had beheaded the man and then threatened Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying their knife will get him as well.
Indirectly, the assailants referred to Nupur Sharma, the BJP leader suspended from the party over a remark on Prophet Mohammad.
The VHP demanded that adequate security be provided to Shama and expelled BJP leader Naveen Kumar Jindal as well as their family members, claiming that both of them are in the target of “jihadis”.
“They perpetrated the gory incident and showed the audacity of threatening the prime minister of India with death while brandishing knives in front of the camera,” VHP working president Alok Kumar noted in a video message.
He said it is a challenge to the “sovereignty of India, values of liberalism, freedom of thoughts, secularism.”
“We in the VHP, people of India and the government of India accept this challenge,” he said, adding, “We will face it and win it.”
Within hours of the killing, prohibitory orders banning the assembly of people were imposed across Rajasthan for a month and mobile internet services suspended for the next 24 hours. At 8 pm, curfew was declared till further orders in seven police station areas of Udaipur city.
Kanhaiya Lal, the tailor, was recently arrested by the local police over some remarks made on social media by him. A BJP leader said the victim feared for his life and had sought police protection, but the authorities did not act on his appeal.
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