Yechury questions government’s silence on vigilante groups

New Delhi, Jan 28 (IANS) CPI-M General Secretary Sitaram Yechury on Saturday condemned the assault on filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali in Jaipur, questioning the silence of Narendra Modi government over vigilante groups in BJP-ruled states running amuck.

Activists of Shree Rajput Karni Sena — a Rajput organisation — on Friday assaulted Bhansali and his crew on the sets of his upcoming film "Padmavati".

"Self-styled vigilante groups run amuck in a BJP-ruled state. Why are those in power, in the state or at the centre, quiet," asked Yechury on social networking sites.

"Dabholkar-Pansare-Kalburgi, we know how far fanning such intolerance can go," he said referring to the killings of scholar M.M. Kalburgi and rationalists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare in Karnataka.