Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday accused the government machinery of being a “mute spectator” to attacks on minorities, particularly Muslims.

He made the statement days after a Muslim man from West Bengal was beaten to death in Haryana allegedly by members of a cow vigilante group and another Muslim man in Maharashtra was assaulted in a train by men who claimed that he was carrying beef.

The attack in Haryana took place on August 27, while the one in Maharashtra took place on August 28.

“Such miscreants get a free pass under the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] government, which is why they dare to carry out such acts,” Gandhi said on X.

The Hindutva party is in power in Haryana, and is part of the ruling coalition in Maharashtra along with the faction of the Shiv Sena headed by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the Nationalist Congress Party group headed by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.

Gandhi, the leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, said that incidents of violence such as the ones in Haryana and Maharashtra amounted to attacks on the Constitution.

The Congress leader further said: “Those who have climbed the ladder of power using hatred as a political weapon are continuously establishing the reign of fear across the country. Hateful elements hidden in the form of mobs are openly challenging the rule of law and spreading violence.”

Gandhi said that there was a need to take strict action against such elements in order to assert the supremacy of the law.

Commenting on the Muslim man being attacked in Haryana, Trinamool Congress MP Sagarika Ghose said that there was no place for food policing in a democracy. “The impunity enjoyed by these cow goons reveals the breakdown of law and order in BJP-ruled states,” she said.

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