Hindustan Times (Jalandhar)

Ex-CM Rawat triggers row with his Naxal tweet

- Kalyan Das kalyan.das@htlive.com

DEHRADUN: Former chief minister Harish Rawat has got the flak after tweeting that a 22-year-old army soldier from Uttarakhan­d died during an attack by ‘naxals’ in Nagaland.

Rawat posted on Tweet on Thursday at 3.30 pm to offer condolence­s to the martyred soldier.

The tweet posted by Rawat in Hindi stated: “Nagaland me naxaliyon se ladte huye desh ke liye apne sarvochch balidan dene wale Haldwani niwasi, bhartiya sena ke veer jawan Yogesh Pargain ki shahadat ko naman. (I salute Indian soldier Yogesh Pargain of Haldwani, who sacrificed his life fighting naxalites in Nagaland).”

However, he drew the flak from the BJP for mentioning ‘naxalites’ in Nagaland.

Notably, the northeast region, including Nagaland, is not affected by the Naxal movement, according to the union home ministry record.

According to the home ministry, 11 states Chhattisga­rh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Bihar, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtr­a, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh are affected by left-wing extremism.

Kumaon regiment’s Yogesh Pargain, who hails from Haldwani, was martyred on Wednesday night in an attack by militants in Nagaland.

BJP state unit president Ajay Bhatt said: “The tweet just shows that how ill-informed the Congress leaders are. It becomes more evident when a leader of Harish Rawat’s stature, who had been the CM of the state, posts factual mistake.”

“A wrong informatio­n would be spread in the society from his tweet that Nagaland is affected by naxalism when it is not,” said Bhatt.

The Congress, however, accused the BJP of not seeing the importance of condolence­s by catching a mistake.

“It is just a small mistake which should not be politicise­d. What is above all is the condolence­s offered by him to a martyred soldier from our state. But the Bhartiya Janta Party ( BJP) failed to see that,” Harish Rawat’s spokespers­on Surendra Agarwal said.

He further added “Rather than finding factual errors, it should be focused on the lapses in internal and external security due to which our jawans are being martyred.”

Despite repeated attempts, HT could not reach Harish Rawat for his comment.

 ?? HT PHOTO ?? Harish Rawat.
HT PHOTO Harish Rawat.

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