Lynching a state subject, says Rajnath Singh; Opposition walks out

NEW DELHI: Congress-led opposition MPs in the Lok Sabha staged a walkout on Thursday after Union home minister Rajnath Singh said that mob lynching was a state subject and asked state governments to take “strict action” against it.

The opposition blamed the Centre of passing the buck on to the states and alleged that ruling party supporters and some leaders were behind such incidents.

Responding to the issue raised by Congress MP KC Venugopal, the home minister said: “It’s not like lynching has been happening only in the last few years, it has happened before too… Lynching happens on the basis of rumours… The Centre can’t stay mum. The MHA had issued advisories in 2016 and in the first week of July 2018. Incidents happen because of fake news circulated through social media. We have told social media providers to install checks in the systems to stop such fake news. But it is the duty of the state governments to take strict action against such incidents. It’s a state subject.”


Earlier, Venugopal said the lynching spree was a matter of concern and amounts to attacks on the freedom of expression which is the essence of democratic discourse. He also accused that the ruling party supporters are behind it and even pointed out that Union minister of state Jayant Sinha had garlanded some of those accused of lynching.

CPM MP Sreemathi Teacher said incidents of attacks on women and children were on the rise and accused the ruling party supporters of being behind them and demanded that the House unitedly condemn such incidents.