Shillong: Meghalaya Governor Tathagata Roy Tuesday supported a call for a boycott of “everything Kashmiri”, including the Amarnath Yatra and purchasing products from the state. Roy, who describes himself as a right-wing Hindu socio-political thinker, writer, ideologue on Twitter, went on the microblogging site to air his views.
“An appeal from a retired colonel of the Indian Army: Don’t visit Kashmir, don’t go to Amarnath for the next 2 years. Don’t buy articles from Kashmir emporia or Kashmiri tradesman who come every winter. Boycott everything Kashmiri. I am inclined to agree,” he tweeted.
The BJP leader turned Governor also referred to the Pakistan Army “who are handling the Kashmiri separatists” and its role in “East Pakistan”, mentioning war crimes like slaughter and rape. “… And they would have kept East Pakistan but for the whacking from India,” Roy tweeted.
“I am not suggesting that we go that far. But at least some distance?” he wrote. Roy’s comments come in the wake of the February 14 terror attack by Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
Among those who expressed outrage at the comments were Jammu and Kashmir leaders Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah.
“Deplorable statement coming from the Governor of Meghalaya. GoI must sack him immediately, If they fail to do so, it means he has their tacit approval and are using it as an election ploy to polarise the situation (sic),” Mufti tweeted.
Skewered for his comments, he later said in a tweet: “Vociferously violent reactions from media and several others to my ECHOING OF a suggestion from a retired army colonel. A purely NON-VIOLENT REACTION to the killing of our soldiers by the hundreds and the driving out of 3.5 lakh Kashmiri Pandits.”
The death of over 40 troopers of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama last Thursday has triggered nationwide outrage. Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad had claimed responsibility for the attack.