Akali Dal Leader Wants PM Modi To Speak On Mob Killing In Speech Today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reply to Friday's no confidence motion has been pitched by BJP leaders as a virtual launch pad of his campaign for the 2019 general elections, complete with his government's achievements and a stinging takedown of the Congress.

Naresh Gujral, a senior leader of the BJP ally Akali Dal, says he wants PM Modi to speak about something else too: mob killing that, he says, has led to insecurity among minorities.

 "I do hope that in view of the recent lynching which have gone on in this country, the Prime Minister articulates his stand very clearly so that the minorities in this country feel reassured." Naresh Gujral, 70, told NDTV.

Mr Gujral explained his concern.

"My party is a party that represents a minority in this country. And we are concerned that there should be no insecurity in the minds of any minority," Mr Gujral, a Rajya Sabha member, said.

Mr Gujral's wish-list for PM Modi's speech comes days after the Supreme Court reacted sharply to mob killing in the name of cow protection.

"In case of fear and anarchy, the state has to act positively. Violence can't be allowed," Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, who led a bench of three judges, told the government.

The top court suggested that a special law could instill a sense of fear for law among would-be attackers.

"Horrendous acts of mobocracy cannot be permitted to inundate the law of the land," the court said.

India has been grappling with rising lynch-mob incidents since 2015 when a 50-year-old man Akhlaq was killed near Delhi because he was suspected to be in possession of beef. In recent months, the rumours of a child kidnapping gangs on the prowl for victims have led to several deaths.

A software engineer and his friends out on a drive were attacked by a mob last week in Karnataka's Bidar after rumours that they were part of a child kidnapping gang.