Rawal says tie Arundhati Roy to army jeep, creates controversy
NEW DELHI: Bollywood actor and BJP parliamentarian Paresh Rawal found himself in the middle of a Twitter storm on Monday after he said writer Arundhati Roy should be tied to an army jeep, suggesting she be used in a manner similar to a Kashmiri man in the Valley last month.
“Instead of tying stone pelter on the army jeep tie Arundhati Roy!” the Lok Sabha member from Gujarat tweeted late on Sunday. It wasn’t clear what context he was speaking in.
His comments drew condemnation from many users on Twitter, some seeing it as an attempt to incite violence by an elected public representative. Hitting out at Rawal, Congress general secretary Digivijaya Singh asked: “Why not (tie) the person who stitched the PDP-BJP alliance?”
The April incident in which a Kashmiri man was tied to an army jeep, ostensibly as a human shield, sparked outrage in Kashmir. Rawal also endorsed a tweet by another user that suggested journalist Sagarika Ghose be treated similarly. Roy is an award-winning writer whose views on Kashmiri separatism has been a cause for controversy.
“Wonderful sir, too good. You really are a model parliamentarian,” tweeted Sagarika Ghose in a seemingly sarcastic vein. Ghose is among Indian personalities routinely targeted by trolls for her political views. Rawal’s comments also drew support from many Twitter users.
Union minister Smriti Irani, however, sought to distance the party, saying, “Nowhere will we support any violent message , against any individual.”