TIE ARUNDHATI ROY TO JEEP: RAWAL
ACTOR KICKS UP A STORM ON TWITTER
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. The army launched a court of inquiry against a Major over the incident.
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. She has also been a strong critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who rose from the state where Rawal is now an MP.
“Wonderful sir, too good. You really are a model parliamentarian,” tweeted Sagarika Ghose in a seemingly sarcastic vein, quoting Rawal’s tweet. Ghose is among Indian personalities routinely targeted by trolls supporting the BJP for her political views. Roy is not on Twitter.
Rawal’s comments also drew support from many Twitter users, with some chipping in with more names they would like to see treated in that manner.
Union minister Smriti Irani, however, sought to distance the party from Rawal’s tweet, saying, “Nowhere will we, in any way, support any violent message by anybody, against any individual of the country.”
Instead of tying stone pelter on the army jeep tie Arundhati Roy! PARESH RAWAL, actor & MP, on Twitter