Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday said differences should be conveyed in a "restrained manner" and that the publicity of acts of vandalism was "disturbing".
Touching on the recent acts of vandalism following beef-consumption rumours against Muslims, Jaitley said that it is important to "strongly criticise" the people who are engaging in such vandalism and "all right-thinking sections will have to distance themselves from such methodologies," NDTV reported.
Of late, lynchings have happened across India over the issue of beef consumption. More than 40 authors have returned Sahitya Akademi awards in protest against such acts and the murder of three renowned rationalists. More recently, Shiv Sena activists targeted the BCCI headquarters and splashed ink on Sudheendra Kulkarni, a BJP thinker close to veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani.
"It is possible that in a big country like India there are divergent views. But there has to be a proper way of discussing and debating these views," he added.
Jaitley's response comes also after some BJP leaders made controversial comments that backed the acts of vandalism, especially after the Dadri lynching incident.
Jaitley said that party president Amit Shah has "strongly taken it up with them." Earlier, BJP sources had said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was reportedly "angry" with party leaders who had made contentious statements.
Jaitley said that sometimes certain issues like inter-community relations or Jammu and Kashmir become "extremely serious" but should be dealt in a "proper and civilised mode." "It is disturbing when these acts of vandalism are increasingly publicised. People are encouraged to use similar methods," he added.
When asked about BJP ally Shiv Sena indulging in vandalism, Jaitley said that all should realise that opinions and differences should be conveyed in a more restrained manner.
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