On Tuesday, the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is ostensibly a Hindu right-wing party, even though Arun Shourie differs, was the target of a social media hashtag which read: “Hindu Virodhi BJP”.
The BJP, sometimes by its supporters and sometimes by its opponents, have been accused of appeasement. Others have called it a statist and socialist party, not unlike the UPA of yore.
A fortnight after two Sadhus were lynched in Palghar, two sadhus were killed in Uttar Pradesh's Bulandshahar.
However, unlike the outrage that was seen in Maharashtra by the BJP, this time it was the Congress and other handles politicising the incident and calling for Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's resignation. Soon, Hindu Virodhi BJP began trending on Twitter, with people accusing the ruling party of inaction. Incidentally, both the Shiv Sena government in Maharashtra, as well as the Yogi Adityanath-led government initiated action and arrested those responsible for both incidents.
Here are some of the Twitter reactions:
Meanwhile, the murder came to light when people reached the temple on Tuesday morning and saw the blood-soaked bodies. According to reports, the deceased have been identified as Jagandas (55), and Sevadas (35).
According to reports, the accused had an altercation with sadhus over stealing their ‘chimta’ (tongs). The priests were attacked with a sharp-edged object. The arrested man was under influence of some toxic substance when the murder took place.
Earlier, in Maharashtra's Palghar, on the night of April 16, two sadhus and a driver, who were on their way to Silvassa, were lynched by residents in Gadchinchle village on the suspicion that they were thieves.
Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh had released the names of 101 people, including nine juveniles, arrested in connection with the Palghar mob lynching case. He went on to say that all the 101 were arrested within eight hours of the incident and none of them is a Muslim.
The Criminal Investigation Department of the Maharashtra Police on Wednesday has taken over the investigation into the case.
