J-K MLA Rashid attacked with black paint right under PM’s nose in Delhi.
New Delhi : In yet another incident of violence over beef, J-K MLA Engineer Rashid was attacked by three activists of the Hindu Sena at the Press Club of India here for allegedly throwing a beef party some days ago in Srinagar. The attack took place when he had finished the press conference and was engaged in one-on-one interviews with the television channels at the gate of the Press Club. Some activists shouting slogans “gow mata ka apman, nahi sahega Hindustan (India will not tolerate any disrespect to cow)” pounced on him and painted him with black colour, engine oil and blue ink. Later, Vishnu Gupta of the Hindu Sena owned responsibility for the attack.
Some TV journalists also got the colour spilled over their clothes and the police later detained two activists in connection with the incident. This is the second such attack in recent times after six Shiv Sainiks attacked Sudheendra Kulkarni, chairman of the Observer Research Foundation in Mumbai, and smeared him with ink ahead of the launch of former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri”s book “Neither a Hawk Nor a Dove: An Insider”s Account of Pakistan”s Foreign Relations.”
Rashid had come to the national capital to protest against the fatal attack on a truck driver in Udhampur over rumours of killing a cow. The relatives of the two truck drivers who were burnt by a mob were also with him. After the attack, a visibly shaken Rashid said: “What happened to Sudheendra Kulkarni has happened to me…The world should see where India stands today. They (the attackers) are mentally sick. I want the whole world to see how these people are trying to muzzle the voice of Kashmiris. Talibanisation is not just taking place in Pakistan. It is happening all over India too.”
This is the second physical assault on the independent J&K MLA for throwing a beef party in Srinagar some days ago. Earlier, he was attacked in the state assembly by the BJP MLAs, and was rescued by the members of the National Conference and the Congress party. During the course of his interaction with the media prior to this attack, Rashid sought to put forward the rationale for throwing the beef party. “I do not eat beef, mutton, or chicken but that was a form of protest to tell the authorities that do not interfere in anyone”s religion,” he added.
He said people have “right to eat”. “We also consider cow as mother cow. But each and every person has right to eat what he wants,” he said adding that 72 percent population of Jammu and Kashmir is Muslim and that their sentiments should also be taken care in a national discourse. Commenting on the attacks against persons suspected of eating beef, Rashid said: “Are we living in the Hindustan of Mohan Bhagwat or Sakshi Maharaj? The Prime Minister talks of Talibanisation and radicalisation. What is this happening in Jammu and Kashmir? Nobody is speaking. I request you with folded hands to highlight the plight of Kashmiris.” Referring to the plight of J& K chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed who has entered into a coalition arrangement with the BJP, Rashid quoted a couplet from the famous urdu poet Ghalib. “Na Khuda hi mila, na visaal-e-sanam; Na udhar kay rahay, na idhar kay rahe hum (I found neither faith, nor union with my lover; And now I belong neither there nor here)” he said.
