Amit Shah on lynchings: 'There is no apprehension anywhere in the country'

When asked about the recent spate of lynchings around the country, BJP president Amit Shah defended the Narendra Modi government's record. 

He added that more lynchings had taken pace between 2011 and 2013, while the UPA was in power. 

The data though seems to refute what Shah says.

A recent study by the website Indiaspend says 97% of lynchings by gau rakshaks have come after 2014. 

The Indian Express reported Shah as saying: “I do not want to compare and undermine the current incidents of lynching…. I am also serious. (But) there have been more lynchings in 2011, 2012, and 2013. Humaare teen saal main jitne lynching hue hain usse zyada hue hain ek ek saal main. Magar kabhi yeh sawaal nahi uttha thha. (There have been more incidents of lynching in each of these years than in NDA’s three years.)”

When asked about growing apprehesion over the lynchings, Shah said, “Do you know of any such incident where arrests have not been made? I do not have any answer to ‘apprehension’… There is no apprehension anywhere in the country.” 

The Express also reported Shah as saying: “Aur ab (since NDA government took office) sawaal kis tarah se uthaye jaate hain? Mohammad Akhlaq ka death hua. Uttar Pradesh mein Samajwadi Party ki sarkar hain. Law and order state subject hain. Jimmedari Samajwadi Party sarkar ki hain. Aur dharna Dilli mein Modi sarkar ke saamne nikalenge. Kya fashion hai? (And how are questions raised now? There was an SP government in UP when Akhlaq died. The responsibility is the SP government’s. But protest marches are taken out in Delhi, in front of the Modi government. What is this fashion?)”