Prime Minister Narendra Modi finally seems to have broached the flaring Dadri lynching issue while addressing a rally in Bihar on Thursday and called for Hindus and Muslims to live in unity. However, Modi did not directly mention the Dadri incident during his speech.
Modi lashed out at political parties for politicising the issue and urged people to ignore controversial statements made for political gains.
"I had said that we should decide whether Hindus want to fight against Muslims or against poverty and whether Muslims want to fight Hindus or against poverty. Hindus and Muslims should work together to fight poverty," Modi said in Nawada in Bihar, according to Press Trust of India.
"The country has to stay united. Only communal harmony and brotherhood will take the nation forward," he said.
Modi also said that President Pranab Mukherjee had shown the way with his speech on the issue.
"Follow President Pranab Mukherjee's message on core civilisational values of diversity, tolerance and plurality," Modi said.
The prime minister was criticised for not speaking on the issue even as the incident led to a national outrage over the killing of Mohammad Akhlaq by a mob of over 100 people in Bishada village in Dadri area of Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Budh Nagar district.
