KOLKATA: BJP leader Dilip Ghosh on Saturday claimed that the party has a discipline in response to Suvendu Adhikari’s comment on Kashmir where he appealed to Bengalis not to visit “Muslim majority Jammu and Kashmir”.
“Don’t go to the places where Muslims are in majority. If you want to go to Kashmir, go to Jammu. Don’t go. They (terrorists) killed people asking about their religion. If you want to go, go to Himachal, we have Devbhoomi Uttarakhand, go to Odisha, the whole country,” Adhikari has stated.
In his remarks, Adhikari had reportedly said that he had met the families of residents of Bengal who were killed in Pahalgam after ascertaining their religion and Omar Abdullah (Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir) should have also visited the families during his visit to Kolkata. The remarks by the BJP leader came a day after Omar Abdullah called on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at the State Secretariat on Thursday. Mamata Banerjee, while maintaining that it was the Centre’s duty to ensure protection of tourists in Jammu and Kashmir, urged the people of the state to visit the Union Territory. According to Ghosh, Adhikari has failed to follow the party line. He reportedly said that Adhikari’s comments were not endorsed by the party. His comments have allegedly received sharp criticism from the party itself.
The Trinamool leaders wondered whether the newly-elected state BJP president Samik Bhattacharya endorses remarks of the Leader of Opposition. Bhattacharya, who took over as the state BJP chief earlier this week, had said that the BJP’s fight is not against minorities. The Leader of Opposition, who on a regular basis calls for “unity of Hindus in West Bengal to remove Trinamool Congress from power”, had in the past called for doing away with all minority morcha units of the BJP, stating that Muslims do not vote for the party.
Besides the Trinamool Congress, the leaders of Left parties and the Congress have also criticised the “communal” remarks of the BJP leader.