Narendra Modi: India PM says 'beef' lynching 'sad and undesirable'

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-34524838

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said the mob killing of a Muslim man rumoured to have eaten beef was "sad and undesirable".

In his first direct comments on the incident, Mr Modi said his government could not be blamed for the death.

Hindus consider cows sacred and slaughtering the animal is banned in many states.

Mr Modi's government wants a nationwide ban, but beef is consumed by Muslims and other religious minorities.

In an interview to the Ananda Bazar Patrika, a Bengali-language newspaper, Mr Modi also criticised the cancellation of a concert by Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali in Mumbai last week after protests by the ruling right-wing Shiv Sena party, which is an ally of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

"The Dadri [the place where Mr Akhlaq was murdered] incident and the protest against the Pakistani singer are sad and undesirable. But what is the role of the federal government in these incidents?" Mr Modi asked.

He said the ruling BJP had "never supported such incidents".

"The opposition parties are highlighting these incidents and accusing the BJP of communalism, but in doing so, are they not themselves practising the politics of polarisation? The BJP has always opposed pseudo-secularism," he said.

Mr Modi had been under pressure to condemn the killing of Mohammad Akhlaq.

Last week, he told a campaign rally in Bihar that Hindus and Muslims should fight poverty and not each other.

Mr Akhlaq died after being kicked and beaten with stones by a group of men in Dadri in Uttar Pradesh state late in September. His son was seriously injured.